Since 2007, applying postage for most mail has been extraordinarily easy. You buy one Forever Stamp and put it on. It doesn't matter if you bought the stamp five years ago. You don't have to think about what the current rate is. You don't have to see any numbers at all. It's just one letter, one stamp.
However this simple rule only applies for what the post office calls "standard-sized" letters. For most mail, that's fine, but there are a couple of rules that greeting cards often don't compl...
On June 5, 2023, a number of amendments to the Illinois Notary Public Act went into effect. Among these changes are the requirement of a 3-hour course to obtain or renew a notary commission, the permanent establishment of both remote and electronic notarization, and the new requirement that most notaries keep a journal of every notarization they do. Somewhat confusingly, the act was actually passed in 2021, but many provisions required the Secretary of State to issue guidance as to how they shou...
As an estate planning attorney, I know that one of the most important things to do as you get older is to give someone you trust power of attorney. Even simple financial tasks can become rather complicated with age (and the limited mobility that comes with it). Typically our elderly clients will name one their kids as their agent to let the child help manage their finances for them. We draft these as broad as possible, so as to not tie the hands of someone trying to help, and they include author...
I recently saw a fascinating preprint of a paper testing GPT-3.5, currently the best public large language model, against the bar exam, the two-day test required to become a lawyer in the United States. As someone who has passed the bar exam and who is very interesting in programming, this intrigued me. I knew language processing had come a long way, but the bar exam requires months of study after years of law school to pass. Surely many seeing the rapid progress of GPT envision AI reaching th...
The purpose of blockchains is to establish unchangeable records of digital assets without any trusted party. "Unchangeable" sounds good to prevent fraud, so some county recorders who seem to understand nothing about the law or technology, like Cook County's Karen Yarbrough, who thought blockchain made sense for government deed records, try to force blockchains onto physical property. But even on its face, this application of blockchains makes zero sense and only exists to appeal to the unwitti...
Pastors and other clergy members are a key part of churches and communities, however they sadly have below-average pay typically. While living off of the charity of their congregations may demonstrate and strengthen their faith, it does necessitate gifts. Often congregants feel other missions are more important than an increase in standard-of-living for the pastor, so gifts specifically designated for the pastor are sure to be appreciated. However, this is something the United States tax law d...
