DePaul Law News

"Law matters," Richard M. Daley to DePaul University law graduates

 

Richard M. Daley, who served as mayor of Chicago for 22 years, delivered the commencement speech May 19 at DePaul University’s College of Law. Daley earned his law degree from DePaul in 1968 as well as a bachelor’s degree in 1964. He cited his DePaul education as “the foundation on which my career has been built.” (Photo by Thomas Vangel)

In remarks to graduates from DePaul University’s 100-year-old College of Law, Richard M. Daley described the law as “the rulebook for society.”

The former Chicago mayor, who earned a law degree from DePaul in 1968, told graduates “When you change the rulebook, you can literally change how the world works.”

He noted that the law “is more than statutes and rules and regulations and proceedings. It is the architecture that determines how we interact with one another. Like any other kind of architecture, if you change the design, you change the outcome. Do you want to change the world? Then you change the law.”

Citing his 22 years of experience as Chicago’s mayor and nearly 10 years as the Cook County State’s Attorney, Daley used the issue of gun violence to illustrate that there are “intriguing legal questions” at the core of some of today’s social challenges.

“In the time since I received my DePaul law degree, over 100,000 children and teenagers have been killed by guns in the United States of America…. I’m not going to tell you that there are easy answers to the problem of gun violence. There are not. But I will ask you some legal questions.

“Should it be easier to buy a gun than it is to buy a car? Why is the gun industry shielded from liability when no other industry enjoys such protection? If some other product were killing thousands of children every year, would Congress and its citizens issue the manufacturers of that product blanket immunity? If a gun shop repeatedly sells guns that end up in the hands of criminals, should that be a criminal offense?” Daley posed.

“These are obviously difficult and divisive questions,” Daley said. “My message today is simple: How you answer these legal questions will affect who gets killed on our streets. The law matters.”

He continued, “Those of us who study law — including all of our new graduates here today — must recognize that laws have consequences. They shape society. They determine how we interact with each other and with the rest of the world.

“You graduate today as our nation is facing a new set of challenges…. You will leave here today with more than a graduate degree. You will leave here with an understanding of the most powerful lever that we have for improving America and the world,” Daley said. “And that is the law.”

Conferring law degrees on 314 graduates was the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president of DePaul University. Introducing Daley was Gregory Mark, dean of the College of Law, which is celebrating its centennial.

 

Article reprinted from DePaul Newsroom.

Click here for photos of the 2013 College of Law Commencement Ceremony, or view a webcast of Sunday's event.

Justice Ginsburg speaks at DePaul's tricentennial celebration

From left: Interim Provost Patricia O'Donoghue, Dean Donald Casey (Music), Justice Ginsburg, Dean Ray Whittington (Business), Dean Gregory Mark (Law).

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in Chicago May 10 to help DePaul celebrate the centennials of three of its schools -- law, business and music -- at an evening event featuring live opera selections and discussion about how law is portrayed in them.

Ginsburg, an opera aficionado who has appeared onstage in cameo opera roles and studied the intersection of opera and the law, provided commentary for the event at the Chicago History Museum.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Ginsburg's presentation in its coverage of the centennnial event.

 

Alumna named Lawyer of the Year by DuPage County Bar Association

Wendy Musielak (BUS '99, JD '03) was named DuPage County Bar Association's Lawyer of the Year in recognition of her long-standing commitment to the DuPage County Bar Association (DCBA) and DuPage Association of Women Lawyers.

Musielak is a partner at Esp Kreuzer Cores LLP where she concentrates her practice in family law. 

Musielak received the award at the 2013 President's Ball at Danada House in Wheaton. "Wendy has been invaluable to the DCBA," said outgoing DCBA President Sharon Mulyk. "When it came time to make a decision for Lawyer of the Year, the choice was an obvious one."

She also serves as chair of the membership committee and a member of the planning committee for the DCBA. Musielak is a director for the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers and a fellow with the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois.

DePaul alumnae named to Crain's 20 in Their 20s

DePaul alumnae Katie Kizer and Amanda Graham recently made the list of Crain's Chicago Business' 20 in Their 20s. After graduating from the College of Law in 2012, the two started their own criminal defense firm, Kizer & Graham LLP. Watch the interview and read the complete profile on Crain's.

Video: Underestimate us at your own risk

   

 

DePaul law students honored for reporting a record total 18,500 hours of service

The Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) held its annual service awards reception on April 25, 2013, and recognized students who completed at least 50 hours of pro bono and community service work while at DePaul. Students received awards for reporting 50, 100 and 200 hours of service. Graduating students who reported 200 hours of service received the Benjamin Hooks Distinguished Public Service Award. The award’s namesake, Benjamin Hooks, graduated from DePaul in 1948 and was the first African-American criminal court judge in Tennessee, the first African-American appointed to the FCC and led the NAACP from 1976 to 1991. He received the Medal of Freedom in 2007.  

This year, students reported a record 18,500 service hours, with 120 students receiving an award. Students volunteered at a wide range of sites, including DePaul’s Domestic Violence Courthouse Project and Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, Center for Disability & Elder Law, Chicago Legal Clinic, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, and the National Immigrant Justice Center, to name just a few. Cheryl Price, PBCSI’s attorney director, notes: “We are proud that so many of our students are committed to pro bono and community service work. This year’s record number of service hours is a reflection of that commitment. We know that PBCSI will continue to attract more and more students because pro bono makes a difference while helping law students hone their legal skills.”

PBCSI also recognized alumna Colby Kingsbury (JD '00), for her pro bono work with the 2013 Pro Bono Alumni Award. Kingsbury is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP where she focuses on commercial, employment, and intellectual property litigation. Kingsbury has a remarkable pro bono record. She has dedicated countless hours to serving incarcerated individuals, immigrants and youth. She is one of the leaders of Faegre Baker Daniel’s Africa Project, which gives the firm’s attorneys a direct opportunity to participate in advancing the rule of law in African countries. Additionally, Kingsbury has successfully represented inmates of Cook County DePartment of Corrections in Section 1983 civil rights actions seeking relief from excessive force by institutional staff and inadequate protection from other inmates. For more than a decade, she has served as co-counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois in a federal action to represent a class of all detained youth at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center in seeking improved confinement conditions. Her work on behalf of youth also includes serving as board president for the James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, which provides legal and social services to youth in Evanston and the surrounding area. She also represents immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. and serves on the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Litigation Steering Committee. According to Cheryl Price: “Ms. Kingsbury is a great example for our law students. She is committed to pro bono and has taken the time to cultivate a rich and rewarding pro bono practice as part of her very successful law career. Her work is inspiring. We are delighted to recognize her with DePaul’s 2013 Pro Bono Alumni Award.”