DePaul Law News

DePaul Law Auction, February 3: Proceeds to benefit student summer stipends

Mark your calendars for the "Sweet 16" DePaul Law Auction on February 3 at the Union League Club of Chicago, 65 W. Jackson Blvd. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the live auction begins at 7:00 p.m.

The DePaul Law Auction -- a tradition at the College of Law -- is one way the law school supports DePaul’s mission of service to indigent individuals and disadvantaged communities. Auction proceeds fund Public Interest Law Association summer fellowships for students pursuing legal careers that serve these populations. The fellowships enable law students to accept unpaid internships with legal aid and public sector organizations, which, in turn, provide law students with unparalleled legal experience. 

Today, with many local legal aid organizations losing funding, interns at these organizations are even more crucial to the community. A recent ABC 7 News I-Team Report discusses how these budget cuts are affecting Chicago-area legal aid organizations and their clients.

This year’s auction has been refocused to include all alumni, the larger DePaul community, and many big-ticket items to bid on -- Bulls tickets, a deluxe stay at the Talbott Hotel, a behind the scenes curator's tour at the Art Institute, to name a few. Join us for great company and a delicious dessert-themed menu!

For more information, to donate and to RSVP, please visit law.depaul.edu/auction.

Delegation representing Bedouin community of Negev meets with DePaul law students

A delegation representing the Bedouin community of the Negev in southern Israel traveled to Chicago in October 2011, meeting with students and faculty of the College of Law. The four-member team specifically chose DePaul as an essential stop among meetings with congressmen and law school students in Chicago, Washington D.C. and New York.  

Led by Dr. Thabet Abu Ras, director of the Negev Project at Adalah and the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the delegation hoped to raise U.S. awareness and foster discussion on discriminatory policies targeted at Negev’s Bedouins, a group historically comprised of Arab nomads. The presentation at DePaul centered on the Prawer plan, recently implemented by the Israeli prime minister’s office. The controversial housing plan proposes forceful relocation of approximately two-thirds of Negev’s Bedouins from outlying, rural villages into state planned towns. The Bedouin community was not involved in the discussion or development of the plan.

Presented by the International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI), the event offered an opportunity for students and activists to discuss issues in a small group setting. Also contributing to the dialogue was Rawia Abu Rabia, an attorney for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel; Hanan Al-Sana, director of education and community development at Sidreh Association, which engages over 3,000 Bedouin women in literacy, leadership and rights education; and Michal Rotem, from the Negev Coexistence Forum for Civil Equality.

The delegation’s two-week trip was sponsored by the U.S. nonprofit group Telos Group and its Project Engage, a Washington D.C.-based initiative which seeks to educate Americans about the Middle East and determine realistic, peaceful solutions.

Professor Albiol receives award for excellence in immigration law

Professor Sioban Albiol, director of the Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic, received the Joseph Minsky Beacon of Light Award from the Chicago chapter of the American Immigration Law Association (AILA) on June 20, 2011. The award is presented to those demonstrating excellence in the field of immigration law.

According to AILA, "Sioban established herself as a leader in the advocacy efforts for immigrants in the community. She provides guidance to her students by a regimented approach in order to zealously advocate for her clients. These students who are taught by Sioban certainly excel as lawyers directly as a consequence under Sioban's leadership and direction. As immediate past chair of AILA Chicago, Sioban continued her efforts in advocating for the underserved by chairing the Legal Services for Detainees Committee where she spearheaded efforts to initiate Chicago's first pro bono bond project. She was more than deserving of this award in light of her tireless commitment to AILA and the entire immigrant community."

Law students study human rights issues in Chiapas, Mexico

DePaul law students and faculty visit an indigenous community in Chiapas, Mexico, during the Human Rights Practicum in May 2011.

For 12 years, the College of Law has sent students to Chiapas, Mexico for a 10-day human rights practicum. This year’s delegation was stellar, and the itinerary was one of the most comprehensive the practicum has ever had. Sixteen students traveled all over the state of Chiapas to meet with community groups, nongovernmental organizations and indigenous people -- all using the law and their organizing power to fight for basic human rights and dignity in Mexico.  

At the conclusion of each day, the students met with the trip’s faculty advisor, Professor Leonard Cavise, to discuss the day’s meetings and the role of human rights in Mexico. Many students drew parallels between their experiences and the type of legal work they hope to do in the United States. 

This summer, each student will work on a project of his or her choice to complete the Chiapas coursework. Three esteemed students (Kelli Fennell, Katie Calhoun and Adrian Bleifuss Prados) will remain in Chiapas for the entire summer, doing legal work and organizing for the Centro de Derechos de la Mujer de Chiapas (Women’s Rights Center) and the Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolome de las Casas (Human Rights Center). 

Over the years, the organizations and community groups have formed strong and lasting relationships with DePaul students and alumni. These relationships will continue to grow in the future, as DePaul remains one of the only schools in the nation that offers an educational program in Chiapas, Mexico. 

DePaul's International Human Rights Law Institute organizes Iraq’s first national moot court competition

DePaul University’s International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI), in conjunction with the International Law Students Association, organized the Iraqi National Rounds of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition held in December 2010 in Erbil, Iraq. It was the first time that students from across Iraq gathered to compete in a moot court competition. 

Teams represented 16 Iraqi law schools and competed through written and oral arguments before a simulated International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial entity of the United Nations. The competition problem addressed the legality of the use of unmanned drones and international anticorruption law. Final round judges included the former chief judge of the Iraqi High Tribunal, a retired judge of Baghdad Criminal Court, and a former ambassador of Iraq to the United Nations.

The teams from Baghdad University, Dhi Qar University and Duhok University will advance to the White & Case International Rounds in Washington, D.C., in March.

Kari Kammel (JD ’08), IHRLI’s deputy chief of party in Iraq who led the organizational efforts for the Iraqi National Rounds says, “For many students, this was not only their first moot court competition, but it was the first time they traveled outside their own cities.” 

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 symposium focuses on human rights in legal services

The Center for Public Interest Law (CPIL), in conjunction with the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, hosted the Fifth Annual Vincentian Public Interest Law Symposium, Back to Basics: Bringing Human Rights to Legal Aid, on November 4, 2010.

Cathy Albisa, executive director of the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, gave the opening comments, which tied the struggles of the civil rights movement to the struggles facing the movement for human rights in the United States today. She also stressed the importance of perseverance, and compared the unpopularity of the movement for human rights to the unpopularity of the civil rights movement at its inception. Albisa discussed issues of poverty in the United States and reported that Illinois has 12.8 million residents, 1.56 million of which live in poverty, and about 700,000 of which live in extreme poverty. In the city of Chicago alone, an estimated 24,968 children and youths are homeless. Albisa concluded that the symposium topic—the fight for basic human rights and dignity—is as timely as it is geographically appropriate.

The impetus for the event came from the work of the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau (MLAB) which recently adopted a human rights framework for the organizational mission. MLAB surveyed the community as part of their strategic planning process and found that clients’ basic human needs, not just their legal needs, were not being met. Therefore, MLAB decided it was time to weave human rights into its legal practice, and many in the legal aid community agree.

“The human rights framework asserts that all rights, injustices and movements are interrelated, interdependent and indivisible,” says law student Nickole Miller (’12). “In this manner, the human rights framework represents a holistic view that acknowledges diverse factors, such as economic injustice, racial discrimination and inadequate education, all intersect in various ways to affect people seeking legal services.”

CPIL to host Human Rights Law Symposium on November 4, 2010

DePaul's Center For Public Interest Law is holding its annual symposium on 11/04/10.

Topic: Bringing human rights to legal services by focusing on a holistic approach to legal services 

Location: DePaul Center, 1 E Jackson, room 8005

Time: 9:00am-3:00pm

The event is free and 5 CLE credits are available.

Registration preferred: email dzwaska@depaul.edu

This event is co-sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild.

Iraq History Project Art Festival offers insight into human rights advocacy

The International Human Rights Law Institute (IHRLI) and human rights artist Tom Block collaborated to host the Iraq History Project Art Festival at DePaul University from September 28 to October 3, 2010.

Through a series of events including lectures, film screenings and exhibits, Chicago-based artists, human rights activists and members of the legal community explored human rights issues and the power of art as a tool for advocacy. The festival featured more than 20 artists and a wide range of activist art forms, including film, theater, painting and photography.

The final day of events included a screening of the award-winning courtroom drama “The Response,” based on the Guantanamo Bay military tribunal transcripts, and a post-screening discussion with writer/producer Sig Libowitz. Also highlighted in the day's exhibits were artist interpretations of IHRLI's Iraq History Project narratives.

The Iraq History Project gathered and analyzed first-person narratives of severe human rights violations committed under the government of the Ba’ath Party and Saddam Hussein (1968-2003) and by a variety of groups after the U.S.-led invasion (2003-2008). While some data on past and recent human rights violations in Iraq was available, the suffering of the Iraqi people had been inadequately documented making it difficult to understand the severity and impact of political violence over the past four decades. 

The project addressed this issue by collecting more than 8,900 testimonies representing over 55,000 pages of personal narratives—one of the largest independent human rights data collection projects in the world. The material documents the individual experiences of torture, massacres, assassinations, rape, kidnapping, disappearances and other violations, providing important insight into both past and current violations in Iraq. 

Image: "Mazlum" - original art by Tom Block.

CPIL to host 5th Annual Vincentian Public Interest Law Symposium on November 4, 2010

The Center for Public Interest Law will host its 5th Annual Vincentian Public Interest Law Symposium on November 4, 2010 from 9am to 3pm.  The event will take place in room 8005, DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd.  The topic will be "Back to Basics: Bringing Human Rights to Legal Aid."  This theme stems from the work of Maryland Legal Aid Bureau (MLAB) and its recent adoption of a human rights framework for its mission.  Members of MLAB will discuss that adoption process and facilitate workshops on how local organizations can adopt a similar framework.  The symposium will bring together lawyers, professors, community organizers, student, and activists to examine how human rights norms can be integrated into the missions of organizations.

Speakers at the symposium include:

• Cathy Albisa, Executive Director, National Economic & Social Rights Initiative
• Rob Acton, Executive Director, Cabrini Green Legal Aid
• Shawn Boehringer, Chief Counsel, Maryland Legal Aid Bureau
• Richard Wheelock, Supervisory Attorney of the Housing Law Project, Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago
• Rene Heybach, Director of Law Project, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

This event is co-sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild.