DePaul Law News

The Road to Legal Education Reform

IHRLI influences a new generation of Iraqi lawyers 

By Keith Ecker

When Kurda Daloye talks about Iraq, there is a passion in her voice. As the International Human Rights Law Institute’s (IHRLI) chief of party in Iraq, it is her job to oversee the organization’s multipronged approach to promoting human rights throughout the country. The initiative is broad to say the least. It touches on myriad areas from women’s rights, to procuring resources, to instilling in law students and faculty the critical thinking skills needed to address important legal, political and human rights issues. 

But Daloye’s motivation to succeed goes far beyond her obligations as one of the program’s leaders. For her, the successes of IHRLI’s reform efforts are one of the most significant factors affecting the future stability of her home country. 

“Iraq has been through so much as a nation in the past 40 years,” Daloye says. “By focusing on legal education reform, we can help Iraq’s law schools create better lawyers who are more outspoken about human rights. That, in turn, will promote a rule of law, democracy, peace and the protection of human rights.” 

Founded at DePaul College of Law in 1990, IHRLI promotes human rights on an international level by providing educational resources, establishing community outreach programs, and implementing human rights and rule of law projects. 

IHRLI’s work in Iraq began soon after the U.S. invasion in 2003. The wartime conflict decimated the nation’s infrastructure, literally toppling the three major law schools located in Basra, Baghdad and Kurdistan. IHRLI President Emeritus M. Cherif Bassiouni led the organization’s on-the-ground efforts to rebuild the fallen schools. 

“The legal reform program you see today is the icing on the cake,” Bassiouni says. “Back then, we had to dig holes in the ground to store fuel containers to run generators that could power the computers and lights in the libraries that we had to physically rebuild.”

These reconstruction efforts led to the reopening of nearly a dozen law schools across Iraq. With physical structures in place to house legal education programs, IHRLI set forth on its current operation: working with Iraqis to help rebuild their legal curriculum from the ground up. 

Center for Public Interest Law hosts Criminal Law Panel

The Center for Public Interest Law began the spring semester with its annual Criminal Defense Speakers Panel on January 18, 2011.  The panel featured three speakers who have dedicated their careers to criminal defense.  The panelists included Carol Brook, Executive Director at the Federal Defender Program; Theodore Thomas, Assistant Public Defender, Cook County; and Robert Loeb, private criminal defense attorney and longtime Professor at the College of Law. 

Each panelist contributed a unique perspective about criminal defense practice, but they all agreed on one thing: an important aspect in getting a job in criminal defense is commitment and passion.  After a question and answer session, each of the panelists also offered to discuss summer job applications and tips for students, which was very helpful for students still looking for summer job opportunities. 

Professor Roberta Kwall on a panel discussing Intellectual Property Law at Gratz College and speaks to three law schools in Israel

Over winter break, Professor Roberta Kwall served as an invited panelist at a seminar on Intellectual Property Law: From Creation to Cyberspace at the Gratz College in Philadelphia. 

Afterward, she traveled to Israel where she spoke at three law schools. The Radzyner School of Law in Herziliya hosted a symposium dedicated to her new book, "The Soul of Creativity," in which she served as the keynote speaker.  She also lectured at Hebrew University about the intersection between the right of publicity and moral rights, and at Bar Ilan University about the Jewish Roots of moral rights.