DePaul Law News

Students help the homeless through a new volunteer legal clinic

(Pictured: Damon Ritenhouse ('11) and students Emily Mannix-Slobig and Goli Rahimi)

 Students and staff started a new program to assist homeless individuals get state identification cards and expunge or seal minor criminal records. The program, Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project (NLAP), takes place every other Saturday at Grace Episcopal Church on 637 S. Dearborn St. Students meet homeless clients at the free breakfast program run by volunteers from The First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple. By helping homeless clients get state identification cards, NLAP helps homeless clients receive public benefits. With their record sealed or expunged, homeless individuals can get housing or employment.  

(Pictured: students Nick Gutierrez and Sam Keen)

NLAP collaborates with several other agencies to make the program work. Franciscan Outreach through St. Peter's Church trained students on getting state IDs. Cabrini Green Legal Aid trained students in expungement and sealing of minor criminal records. The program began on March 17 and will continue every other Saturday. Alumnus Damon Ritenhouse ('11) supervises the clinic. For more information, contact Cheryl Price, Director of the DePaul Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative, at cprice13@depaul.edu

Click here to view the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin's recent piece on NLAP (note that subscription is required to view the article).

Alumnus Dennis Kass provides free legal advice to Chicago Public Schools students, families

DePaul law alumnus Dennis Kass (JD '06), a history teacher at a Little Village Lawndale High School, puts his law degree to use in a unique way -- offering free legal advice to Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students and families.

In 2010, Kass started the Chicago Law and Education Foundation as a way to bring legal services to low-income communities and legal educational initiatives to CPS. He estimates that the foundation has helped thousands of families through a free clinic that operates monthly at nine city high schools.

The foundation partners with the DePaul's Asylum/Immigration Law Clinic and Center for Public Interest Law, among other legal aid and community service organizations.

Read more about Kass and the foundation's work in The New York Times article "A free legal clinic that opens when class is over" or in the Chicago News Cooperative article "A teacher's extra-credit offer: Free legal advice."

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."

Criminal Appeals Clinic works to overturn conviction obtained using unconstitutional statute

A number of appellate court decisions have found a certain provision of the retail theft statute to be unconstitutional, as it creates a mandatory presumption that relieves the state of its burden to prove the element of intent. In other words, the presumption denies the trier of fact the discretion to determine if merchandise from a retail store has been removed intentionally or inadvertently.

DePaul College of Law Criminal Appeals Clinic student Thomas Volgelhuber is working on a case in which a judge explicitly relied on this unconstitutional presumption in finding the state met its burden of proof, convicting a defendant of retail theft and sentencing him to two and a half years in prison. “There is little case law regarding the application of [this] unconstitutional mandatory presumption by a bench judge,” says Vogelhuber. “This was not, however, disconcerting because the error by the judge was obvious and warrants a reversal of the conviction.”

“The significance of this case is that in none of the other published decisions has the trier of fact actually relied on this bad presumption,” says Scott Main, an adjunct professor who teaches the clinic in a rotation with attorneys Laura Weiler, Patrick Cassidy and Maria Harrigan from the Office of the State Appellate Defender.

“A reversal of [the client’s] conviction based on this unconstitutional statute can send a signal to the legislature to change this law. This case provides a great example of how appellate advocacy is focused on the individual rights of your client, but can also lead to changes in the law that can benefit others similarly situated.”

Like Vogelhuber, each student in the Criminal Appeals Clinic handles their own case: scouring the trial record for anything that strikes them as odd or unfair; performing research to provide support for their theories; and ultimately drafting a brief for their client that will be filed in the Illinois Appellate Court at the end of the semester.

“So much of a student’s legal writing experience in law school is learning the technical aspects of drafting and providing a balanced understanding of the law,” says Professor Main. “With the appeals clinic, we emphasize that you always begin with the rule and then expand outward. We encourage students to find their voice as an advocate, learning how to persuasively take a point of view on behalf of their client.”

 

Professor Andrea Lyon discusses abolition of death penalty in Illinois

On March 9, 2011, Governor Patrick Quinn signed into law the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois. Professor Andrea Lyon, director of DePaul College of Law's Center for Justice in Capital Cases, was present in Springfield to witness the historic event.

Lyon, who was active in efforts to abolish the state's death penalty, says, “We must spend our precious resources on crime prevention, adequate policing and community development and seek peace. Abolishing the death penalty is good for the citizens of Illinois, good for our budget, good for families of victims and good for our court system. It may even make our state safer.”

Since 1976, Lyon has tried 136 murder cases; in 19 capital cases, she has argued for — and won — life sentences. The Chicago Tribune once dubbed her the "angel of death row" for this work and, in 2010, Lyon's book by that same title was published. She also has received numerous awards for her work, including the Outstanding Legal Service Award from the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in 2010.

In a recent column in DePaul's online publication Distinctions, Lyon discussed the power of Quinn’s decision.

DePaul’s legal skills training, law faculty lauded in 2011 Princeton Review ratings

DePaul College of Law is rated among the nation’s most outstanding law schools, according to a recent survey by Princeton Review. Students cited the law school’s valuable practical skills training, respected faculty and supportive environment in the New York-based education services company’s 2011 edition of the guidebook The Best 172 Law Schools.

Students participating in the survey highlighted DePaul’s many practical skills course offerings, such as Trial Advocacy, Commercial Arbitration and the legal clinics, and credited this coursework for being “geared entirely toward teaching students how to employ those skills when they leave the law school.”

In the survey, students recognized DePaul’s law professors as “incredible” and “impressive” in terms of teaching effectiveness and professional experience, noting their “excellent connections not just in Chicago, but even internationally as well.” Students also reported that faculty members “really care about their classes and the students.” 

Additionally, students said the College of Law is a “supportive” environment, with a real sense of community among students.

Princeton Review compiled the ranking lists based on its surveys of 18,000 students attending the 172 ABA-approved law schools, as well as on school-reported data. The 80-question survey asked students about their school’s academics, student body and campus life, themselves, and their career plans. The lists are based on surveys of law school students during the 2009-10, 2008-09, and 2007-08 academic years.

The lists and detailed school profiles posted today at princetonreview.com.

DePaul alumni and friends give more than $8 million in support

As part of the Many Dreams, One Mission campaign for DePaul University, the College of Law celebrated a record-breaking year for fundraising with approximately $8.3 million in gifts from law alumni and friends.

In spring 2010, at the request of noted pharmaceutical executive, philanthropist and alumnus Michael Jaharis (JD ’58), the Jaharis Family Foundation Inc. made a $5 million challenge grant for law scholarships. This is the largest single scholarship gift in the university’s 112-year history and the largest gift ever to the College of Law.

The Jaharis grant follows a $1 million gift to endow the college’s legal clinics from former Ford Motor Company vice president-general counsel John W. Martin Jr. (JD ’61), and a $500,000 gift to endow scholarships from Larry Rogers Sr. (JD ’83), founding partner of Chicago law firm Power Rogers & Smith. 

The College of Law also received a seven-figure gift from DePaul board of trustees chair and Chicago library commissioner Mary A. Dempsey (JD ’82) and her husband, nationally acclaimed trial lawyer Philip H. Corboy, to fund an endowed scholarship in their names.

To date, the Campaign for the College of Law has raised $17 million of its $30 million goal to support initiatives that embrace and solidify its legacy of preparing leaders, promoting justice and shaping policy.

DePaul expands clinical programs, establishes Poverty Law Clinic

DePaul's new Poverty Law Clinic offers students the opportunity to represent low-income clients in housing law and unemployment cases referred by the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago (LAF). Opened for fall 2010 enrollment, the clinic immediately filled its 10-student capacity. 

“There’s been a great student interest and demand for what’s referred to as a traditional poverty law clinic," says Associate Dean for Clinical Programs Andrea Lyon. "We are delighted to be able to respond to that demand and start one."

Under the direction of Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor Anita Maddali, students gain hands-on experience and learn critical litigation skills while also advancing DePaul’s values of service and social justice. Clinic students conduct intake interviews at LAF and assist individuals in landlord-tenant disputes, those facing eviction from public housing, and those who have been unfairly denied unemployment compensation.

“This has always been an important clinic for a law school,” Professor Maddali says. “Especially in this economic downturn, when many more people are in need of free legal services.”

Professor Maddali brings a wealth of experience to DePaul. She taught two clinical courses at Northwestern University School of Law representing women and children in asylum proceedings and juveniles in delinquency proceedings. Following her work at Northwestern, she litigated federal cases at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund in the areas of employment discrimination, education and immigration.

Quoted material from Center for Public Interest Law newsletter, The Advocate.

Legal Clinic staff participates in CVLS’ Race Judicata

DePaul Legal Clinic staff members participated in Race Judicata^® 2010 Sprint for Justice, a 5K run/walk benefiting Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation (CVLS).

Proceeds from the annual lakefront race go to the general operating costs of CVLS, an organization of nearly 3,000 volunteer attorneys who provide free legal assistance to low-income clients in Chicago.



Photo, from left: Dan Bandstra, Mary Bandstra, Crystal Jackson,
 Davina Campos, Vanessa Pineda and Christine Chen.