DePaul Law News

Pro bono & community service initiative delivers school supplies to A.N. Pritzker Elementary School

Pictured, L-R, Amanda Szaraz, Pritzker's School Counselor; Cheryl Price, PBCSI Director and Jerry Weissbuch, 6th grade teacher at Pritzker.

The Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) recently completed its second annual school supply drive for homeless and needy students at A.N. Pritzker Elementary School, a pre-k through 8th grade Chicago Public School in Wicker Park--and one of PBCSI’s partner organizations.

PBCSI Director, Cheryl Price, delivered the school supplies to Pritzker on Wednesday, September 28, 2011. PBCSI Student Site Coordinator Rebecca Birger organized the drive and asked each student organization to consider making a donation. Her efforts paid off. Ms. Price delivered five large boxes of supplies, including spiral notebooks, marble composition books, flash drives, pens and pencils, and folders. Law school faculty and staff also made generous donations, as did members of the Center for Public Interest Law’s Advisory Board.

These school supplies are critical to kids whose families simply cannot afford to purchase them. Pritzker’s School Counselor, Amanda Szaraz, manages the supplies. She explained, “These supplies are so tremendously helpful. They allow our kids to have the supplies they need and puts them in a position to learn and be prepared.” According to Ms. Szaraz, “the kids come back throughout the year for more supplies as they need them. It is a great feeling to have them available.” 

The school supply drive is just one of the ways that DePaul’s law students are involved at Pritzker Elementary School. Our students teach lessons on the Constitution to 6th and 8th graders, tutor struggling 6th graders, and serve as Science and History Fair judges. Through PBCSI's "Donate-A-Day" program, they assist with Pritzker's school beautification projects, such as painting classrooms and hallways and gardening. Last spring, Pritzker's 6th graders visited the College of Law for a field trip and worked with our law students and faculty on a mock trial exercise.  

CPIL hosts panel of civil legal services attorneys

                      (Pictured, left to right, are David Rodriguez, Avani Patel and Andrew Smith) 

Assisting a low-income couple on the brink of mortgage foreclosure. Helping a family evicted by the Chicago Housing Authority for a misdemeanor. These are the types of services that civil legal service attorneys provide. As part of its monthly speaker series, the Center for Public Interest Law (CPIL) hosted three civil legal services attorneys on September 21 to talk with students about their careers: David Rodriguez from the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, Avani Patel from Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation and Andrew Smith from Chicago Legal Clinic.

The speakers encouraged students to volunteer, take clinical courses, and use their 711 license during their time in school. Rodriguez found that his work in the private sphere provided great training for his current public interest work. He encouraged students to try many things in order to find out what areas of law they don't intend to practice; he ruled out family law after working on family law cases for two years.

Patel described her transition from Thomas Cooley law school in Michigan to a Public Interest Law Initiative internship with Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. As a law student, Patel gained great experience in the courtroom through the use of the 711 license. She handled cases from beginning to end, from interviewing the client to representing them in court for the final judgment. Like Rodriguez, Patel also learned what areas she did not want to practice. She obtained an LL.M. in tax law to help build her resume, but she later learned she did not want to practice tax law.

Smith spoke to one of the top concerns on many law students' minds. "How many of you are concerned about getting a job?" he asked. Raised hands filled the room. Smith shared his own struggle of finding a job after graduation in a tough economy. He found valuable experience in unexpected places, such as the traffic division in Cook County. He worked five bench trials a day for six months in the traffic division. He brings the skills and confidence from that experience to his current work with mortgage foreclosure clients at Chicago Legal Clinic. Smith could personally attest to the importance of volunteer law students since he relies on five student volunteers each day.

Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative holds fall 2011 service activities fair

The Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) hosted its fall 2011 Service Activities Fair on Thursday, September 15. The purpose of the fair was to allow students to learn more about PBCSI and its partners, as well as the volunteer opportunities they offer. The fair had a great turnout, with approximately 100 students in attendance. Cheryl Price, Director of PBCSI, started off the fair with an introduction about PBCSI. This was followed by presentations by PBCSI partners Cabrini Green Legal Aid, The Constitutional Rights Foundation-Lawyers in the Classroom, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, A.N. Pritzker Elementary School, the Center for Disability & Elder Law and DePaul Student Legal Services. The student coordinators for the College of Law’s Service Immersion Trips and PBCSI’s Donate-A-Day also made presentations. Also in attendance were the Catholic Charities Legal Assistance, DePaul’s Child and Family Law Center, Illinois Legal Aid Online, DePaul’s Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic and the Chicago Law & Education Foundation. 

Partner presentations gave way to lunch. During a 20-minute break out session, students were able to speak directly with the legal aid and community service agencies that interested them. Enthusiastic and excited about the volunteer opportunities at the fair, students signed up for more information on opportunities and organizations that interested them.    

PBCSI works to promote pro bono and community service volunteerism among the law students, faculty, and staff and hosts 6 Donate-A-Day service days a year. Any student who completes and reports at least 50 hours of pro bono and/or community service work while at DePaul is eligible for one of several service awards.  For more information about PBCSI and its Donate-A-Day events, email pbcsi@depaul.edu.

At College of Law-sponsored debate, Professor Alberto Coll advocates prudence, deliberation in wartime politics

DePaul Law Professor Alberto Coll garnered much applause at the Pritzer Military Library last Thursday. The charismatic professor squared off against friend and ideologically disparate contemporary, Berkeley Law Professor John Yoo, in an exceptionally elegant debate entitled, "Resolved: That the President's War Powers are (Nearly) Absolute."

The politically diverse event was co-sponsored by the College of Law, the Federalist Society, the American Constitution Society and the Jack Miller Center for the Teaching of American Founding Principles. Though nuanced by intermittent buoyancy and readings from the works of the Founding Fathers, the debate's theoretical rift remained firm; Yoo does not believe the president requires congressional approval for war, while Professor Coll maintains that congressional approval is essential, barring certain, special cases. Debate moderator and Atlantic columnist James Warren praised Coll's performance in Sunday's New York Times. 

The packed room, with attendees spilling into the aisles and balcony wings, included Dean Gregory Mark and many DePaul students.

The New York Times coverage of the debate can be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/john-yoo-and-alberto-coll-debate-presidential-power.html.

Professor Brian Havel, IALI Resident Research Fellow Gabriel Sanchez co-write pioneering international civil aviation article

The latest article, "Toward a Global Aviations Emissions Agreement," co-written by Distinguished Research Professor Brian Havel, director of the College of Law’s International Aviation Law Institute, and Institute FedEx/United Airlines Resident Research Fellow Gabriel Sanchez, was featured in a detailed lead story by GreenAir, an independent analytical and news website dedicated to current issues surrounding aviation and its impact on global warming and the environment. The article, which will be published in the 42nd volume of the Harvard Environmental Law Review, is the first to propose a sectoralized treaty to reduce the emissions produced by international civil aviation, by relying on the sector's preexisting institutional and legal machinery, while also taking pragmatic and normative constraints into account. The GreenAir story also features additional commentary by Sanchez concerning the ongoing political and legal controversy surrounding the European Union's plan to bring non-Union airlines under its Emissions Trading Scheme beginning in January 2012.

The full GreenAir story is available at http://www.greenaironline.com/news.php?viewStory=1333.

A draft version of Havel and Sanchez's article is available from SSRN at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1911508.

2011 Loan Repayment Assistance Program Reception

The Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) Committee, in cooperation with the Center for Public Interest Law, will host a reception to honor the 2011 LRAP recipients and to celebrate the growth of the LRAP at DePaul. The reception will take place on Thursday, October 27 at 5:30 in the Rinn Law Library Rare Book Room.

The LRAP recipients are:

• Rocio Armendariz ‘07
• Geoff Burkhart ‘08
• Susan DeCostanza ‘08
• Ann Krasuski ‘05
• Keri McGuire ‘03
• Nora Phillips ‘07
• Jessica Schneider ‘10
• Jed Untereker ‘06
• Delmar Vouziers ‘06
• Tracy Walsh ‘08

These alumni have outstanding qualifications and proven dedication to public interest law.  The awards are made in the form of a forgivable loan from the law school in the amount of $5,000 to be used toward the payment of law school educational debt.

Thanks to the generous support of the faculty and staff, this year there will again be a second named award in honor of the late Professor Jim Colliton. 

For more details, please visit the LRAP website.

CIPLIT and DePaul alumnus to serve as U.S. Patent and Trademark Office deputy chief of staff

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Director David Kappos recently announced that DePaul law alumnus Azam Khan will serve as the deputy chief of staff in the Office of the Under Secretary and Director.

Khan joined the Patent and Trademark Office in September 2009 as a special advisor to the Under Secretary. In that role, he served as head speechwriter for the under secretary and as project lead for the Nationwide Workforce and Satellite Office initiative among others. He advised on matters related to strategic planning, policy and political issues, and operations. He also participated in drafting the office's 2010-2015 strategic plan.

College of Law to celebrate LRAP recipients on October 27, 2011

2011 Loan Repayment Assistance Program Reception

The Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) Committee, in cooperation with the Center for Public Interest Law, will host a reception to honor the 2011 LRAP recipients and to celebrate the growth of the LRAP at DePaul. The reception will take place on Thursday, October 27 at 5:30 in the Rinn Law Library Rare Book Room.  The 2011 LRAP recipients are:

Rocio Armendariz ‘07

Geoff Burkhart ‘08

Susan DeCostanza ‘08

Ann Krasuski ‘05

Keri McGuire ‘03

Nora Phillips ‘07

Jessica Schneider ‘10

Jed Untereker ‘06

Delmar Vouziers ‘06

Tracy Walsh ‘08

These alumni have outstanding qualifications and proven dedication to public interest law.  The awards are made in the form of a forgivable loan from the law school in the amount of $5,000 to be used toward the payment of law school educational debt. 

Thanks to the generous support of the faculty and staff, this year there will again be a second named award in honor of the late Professor Jim Colliton. 

For more details, please visit the LRAP website: www.law.depaul.edu/lrap.

Law classrooms get a facelift

When classes resumed in August, DePaul College of Law welcomed new and returning students to completely renovated classrooms and office spaces.

The renovation of 10 major classrooms located on four floors of Lewis Center began immediately following graduation in May 2011. The remodeling efforts included significant functional, furniture and equipment upgrades, as well as improvements to the public corridors outside of and leading up to these spaces.

New office space also was created on the second and third floors of O’Malley Place for the law journals and for Law Career Services, providing much needed working space and better accessibility.