The College of Law community celebrated DePaul law students’ volunteer work, totaling 10,000 hours this year, and recognized the Pro Bono and Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) Service Award winners at a reception in April. Yet, the event was bittersweet, as the law school also mourned the death of prominent alumnus and civil rights icon, Benjamin L. Hooks (’48), for whom the school’s distinguished public service award is named.
Benjamin L. Hooks, who graduated from the DePaul University College of Law in 1948, grew up in an America marked by racism and injustice. Determined to change it, he spent his life fighting for equality. A highly respected champion of civil rights and one of the College of Law’s outstanding alumni, Hooks died April 15 in Memphis, Tenn.
Though his work would take him back to Tennessee and later to Washington, D.C., Hooks remained connected to the College of Law throughout his lifetime. The law school honored his outstanding service to the field of public interest law in 2003, and he earned an honorary degree at the law school’s 1977 commencement ceremony. Recognition for a career and achievements that defied the odds.
Judges William J. Bauer (52) and Richard D. Cudahy
('95) of the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit will join
DePaul College of Law Dean Warren Wolfson on the final panel of
judges for the inaugural National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition
to be held on March 5 and 6.
The competition, co-sponsored by DePaul University and
the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, allows students the
opportunity to advocate in the nuanced landscape of cultural heritage law. This
dynamic and growing legal field deals with the issues that arise as our society
comes to appreciate the important symbolic, historical and emotional role that
cultural heritage plays in all of our lives. It encompasses several disparate
areas including protection of archaeological sites; preservation of historic
structures and the built environment; preservation of and respect for both the
tangible and intangible indigenous cultural heritage; the international market
in art works and antiquities; and recovery of stolen art works.
This year’s competition problem addresses criminal intent
and statutory interpretation under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.
All rounds will be held in the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States
Courthouse located in downtown Chicago.
