DePaul Law News

President Obama nominates alumnus Thomas Durkin for U.S. District Court

President Barack Obama has nominated Thomas M. Durkin (JD '78) to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 

"I am honored to put forward this highly qualified candidate for the federal bench,” President Obama says in an official White House statement. “He will be a distinguished public servant and valuable addition to the United States District Court."

Durkin is a partner at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago, where he handles a broad array of matters including complex commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 1993, Durkin served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Illinois for over a decade. During that time, he served in numerous leadership positions, including chief of the Special Prosecutions Division, chief of the Criminal Receiving and Appellate Division, and first assistant U.S. attorney. From 1978 to 1980, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stanley J. Roszkowski of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. 

Durkin has the support of U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mark Kirk (R-IL).

"Thomas Durkin is an outstanding candidate for a federal judgeship in the Northern District and I am pleased that President Obama has nominated him today. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated strong leadership in his community and a solid commitment to public service. I will be working with Senator Kirk to see his nomination approved by the Senate," says Durbin, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who forwarded Durkin's name to President Obama in 2009 based on the recommendation of a bipartisan screening committee chaired by former federal judge and Illinois Congressman Abner Mikva.

Durkin also was one of Kirk's judicial recommendations submitted to the White House in July 2011.

 

 

 

 

Alumna Janet Baer sworn in as judge on U.S. Bankruptcy Court

In March, Janet S. Baer (JD '82) was one of three new judges appointed to serve on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. She was sworn in on May 14, 2012.

In a recent Chicago Daily Law Bulletin article, Baer said serving on the bankruptcy bench was a longtime goal. "I've been a bankruptcy lawyer since Day 1. I've always found it incredibly interesting because there's always something new."

After earning her law degree from DePaul, Baer served as a law clerk to now retired U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert L. Eisen. She also worked as a partner in a number of law firms before forming her own.

Baer is a member of the Chicago Bar Association's Bankruptcy and Reorganization Committee, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association and the International Women's Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation.

 

Moot court students enjoy record-breaking season of success

Associate Dean Howard Rubin and the Institute for Advocacy & Dispute Resolution are proud to announce that the 2011-2012 DePaul moot court programs enjoyed record-breaking success this year with the most team championships and finalists in recent history. The Moot Court Society anticipates that it will rank among the nation's top 20 programs once all national rankings are finalized.

Dedicated students under the guidance of Legal Writing Instructor Christopher Evers, Professor Barbara Bressler, and several other faculty and alumni coaches produced these record-breaking results:

Whittier National Juvenile Law Competition
Team: Patrick Viktora & Kelly Olivier 
Result: champion

National IP LawMeet
Team: Michael Comeau & Julie Krupa
Results: champion & best term sheet award

Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition (Patent)
Team: Nicholas Restauri & Rachel L. Schweers
Results: National -- runner-up; Midwest Regional -- first place, best appellant brief, best appellee brief

ABA Client Counseling Competition 
Team: Brandon Baseman & Zariah Udeh 
Results: National -- third place; Regional -- first place

Fordham Securities Law Competition
Team: Andrew Cunniff & Melinda Wetzel 
Results: semifinalist, best respondent brief, best preliminary round oralist - Melinda Wetzel

Vanderbilt 1st Amendment Competition
Ream: David Porter & Anna Esfeld
Result: semifinalist

Charleston Constitutional Law Competition 
Team: Erik Nelson & James Maruna
Result: semifinalist

Wagner Labor and Employment Law Competition
Team: William Alzugary & Mark Sliwinksi
Results: quarterfinalist, best petitioner brief

George Washington National Religious Freedom Competition
Team: Aaron Dozeman & Rachel Brown
Result: quarterfinalist

Honorary degree recipient John B. Simon to deliver DePaul law commencement address

At its May 20, 2012, commencement ceremony, DePaul College of Law will confer on graduation speaker John B. Simon (JD ’67) the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, for reflecting the highest ideals of the legal profession and helping the university fulfill its Vincentian mission of education and outreach to those most in need.

Throughout his career, Simon has served not only his clients, but also the public, the legal profession and DePaul. He is a former chair of the university’s board of trustees, has served as an adjunct professor at the College of Law, and is currently an advisory board member of the law school’s Center for Dispute Resolution. 

Simon has been a leader in the state and local bar associations and in dozens of community and government organizations—all while maintaining an active practice at one of the nation’s most prominent firms, Jenner & Block. He was president of the Chicago Bar Association, a member of the Illinois Supreme Court Planning and Oversight Committee for the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program, and a commissioner of the Illinois Racing Board. He currently chairs the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission as well as the court’s Rules Committee, where he facilitates the negotiation and drafting of the rules and ethical standards that govern our state’s justice system. 

Committed to public service in innumerable ways, Simon has served as counsel to numerous state agencies including the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Illinois Racing Board, Illinois Farm Development Authority, Illinois State Board of Investment, and the Illinois departments of Insurance and Public Aid. He helped expand the Illinois Toll Highway Authority system and McCormick Place, and facilitated the sale of the Chicago Milwaukee Railroad/Heartland Partners’ commuter rail lines to create a regional transportation authority, all of which had major impacts on Chicago’s regional economy. On behalf of three governors of Illinois, he faithfully served and was appointed chancellor of the Lincoln Academy, awarding the state’s highest honor each year to those who have served the state through their life’s work.  

DePaul University and the College of Law are proud to honor an alumnus who has devoted his life to the well being of Illinois’ citizens and its system of justice.

 

DePaul College of Law's Commencement will be held Sunday, May 20, 2012, at the Akoo Theatre in Rosemont, Illinois. A full schedule of events and other information can be found on DePaul's commencement website.

 

DePaul students earn runner-up title at national patent law moot court competition

After a demanding six months of preparation for the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition, Nick Restauri’s and Rachel Schweers’ hard work and dedication paid off with a regional first place finish, two best brief awards and the national title of runner-up.

Restauri and Schweers formed a team in November 2011, soon after the release of the competition problem. The brief writing process took them through the end of the year, and in mid-January, they finalized their briefs for the regional competition held in Chicago in March. Unlike most moot court competitions that require participants to write one brief, the patent moot requires students to write briefs for both sides of the argument. Schweers, a patent agent with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and a recipient of the Robert and Clytia Chambers Endowed Prize for Excellence in the College of Law, says, though this requirement made more work for the team at the onset of the writing process, “It also facilitated our ability to more effectively advocate for either side of the issues.”

“Rachel and I spent a great deal of time going back and forth over our briefs,” says Restauri, a third-year student who received the 2012 Allen J. Hoover Memorial Award. “We scrutinized every sentence and rewrote portions multiple times. The process was long and very tedious, but Rachel and I played off each other’s individual writing strengths and eventually arrived at the final products.” The team received awards for best appellant brief and best appellee brief at the regional level, where they competed against 26 teams to win first place and advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C., in April.

To prepare for oral arguments, the team practiced two days a week for seven weeks before the regional, and after winning, continued to rehearse two days a week until the national competition. They also benefited from the assistance and support of DePaul intellectual property law professors, the Center for Intellectual Property Law & Information Technology, and alumni who previously competed in the patent moot.