DePaul Law News

Alumna named Lawyer of the Year by DuPage County Bar Association

Wendy Musielak (BUS '99, JD '03) was named DuPage County Bar Association's Lawyer of the Year in recognition of her long-standing commitment to the DuPage County Bar Association (DCBA) and DuPage Association of Women Lawyers.

Musielak is a partner at Esp Kreuzer Cores LLP where she concentrates her practice in family law. 

Musielak received the award at the 2013 President's Ball at Danada House in Wheaton. "Wendy has been invaluable to the DCBA," said outgoing DCBA President Sharon Mulyk. "When it came time to make a decision for Lawyer of the Year, the choice was an obvious one."

She also serves as chair of the membership committee and a member of the planning committee for the DCBA. Musielak is a director for the DuPage Association of Women Lawyers and a fellow with the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois.

CPIL works with restorative justice leaders for final skills series

The Center for Public Interest Law concluded the yearlong Public Interest Legal Skills Series with a three session restorative justice series. Adjunct Professors Elizabeth Vastine and Peter Newman taught the series this April during the lunch hour. Vastine and Newman held each session in a restoratve justice circle, to help students gain a basic understanding of the practice, as well as how it is implemented in Cook County Juvenile Justice system.  

Student participants praised the opportunity to collaborate with one another and learn more about this increasingly popular method of alternative dispute resolution, which is fast becoming a critical practice in juvenile justice system. "I was so grateful to have the chance to gain restorative justice skills," said Cindy Bedrosian ('14). "We learned about restorative justice by actually participating in a restorative justice circle each week.  It was wonderful to have this opportunity to learn about an innovative practice by experiencing it, instead of merely attending a lecture." 

 

Students engage in restorative justice by meeting in circle.

 

 

Jody Raphael honored with 2013 Gertz award

DePaul College of Law's Jody Raphael has been named the 2013 recipient of the Illinois State Bar Association's Human Rights Section's Gertz Award. The award honors the long-standing, continuing and exceptional commitment to the protection and advancement of human rights.

Raphael, a senior research fellow with the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center, will recieve the award at the association's June luncheon in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Senior Research Fellow Jody Raphael opens discussion on acquaintance rape

DePaul University Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center Senior Research Fellow Jody Raphael's new book Rape is Rape: How Denial, Distortion, and Victim Blaming Are Fueling a Hidden Acquaintance Rape Crisis (Chicago Review Press 2013) argues that “the time has come for rape denial to become as unacceptable as Holocaust denial.”

Drawing on research and firsthand interviews with acquaintance rape victims, Rape is Rape presents clear statistics on rape prevalence and reporting, consistent with a number of studies often ignored by policymakers and the press.

An attorney by training, and a 25-veteran in practice in legal services programs for the poor in the Midwest, Raphael is a noted national expert on violence against women in girls, with special emphasis on the effects of violence on poor women of color. She is the author of over 20 research articles, and serves as an associate editor of the international journal Violence against Women.

In 1995 her research was the first nationally to establish that large percentages of women on welfare were current violence victims, whose partners, threatened by their economic independence, sabotaged their efforts at education, training, and work. Her numerous research reports, which spawned other research nationally, directly led to the Family Violence Option in the 1996 welfare reform legislation, providing battered women with more time and special supports before mandatory work. She is the author of numerous research studies on violence and poverty, as well as two major research projects on violence in the Chicago sex trade industry.

In 2000 the first book in her trilogy on poverty and violence was published by Northeastern University Press, Saving Bernice: Battered Women, Welfare, and Poverty. In 2004 the second book, Listening to Olivia: Violence, Poverty, and Prostitution, appeared. With the publication of Freeing Tammy: Women, Drugs, and Incarceration in May 2007 the trilogy was completed. The trilogy tells the stories of three Chicago women, illustrating the many ways that domestic violence, childhood sexual assault, and rape make and keep women poor. With the trilogy, Raphael also demonstrates how stigmatization and blaming of women violence victims contributes to their poverty and keeps them from entering the regular labor market, and how systems established to help women violence victims can end up injuring them.

At DePaul College of Law, Raphael is undertaking a multiyear study and monitoring of the Cook County Circuit Court’s response to domestic violence and sexual assault. During 2007-2008 she undertook research with women and girls in prostitution in Chicago who are controlled by a pimp or trafficker to better determine how women and girls are coerced into the sex trade industry in Chicago and kept there by violence and threats of violence. In 2009-2010 research with 25 ex-pimps and traffickers further elucidated the structure of the Chicago sex trade and efforts to recruit girls and women. These reports are available at law.depaul.edu.family.

 

Early praise for Rape is Rape:

"[A] compelling, grim account of the struggle for victims of sexual violence to be heard and believed." — Publishers Weekly

"Meticulously researched and passionately argued rebuttal of those who would deny the reality and alarming prevalence of acquaintance rape. ( ... ) Raphael hopes to change such attitudes, not only through the heavy dose of accurate data she presents, but also through the stories of several young women who were raped by someone they knew." — Kirkus Review

"Jody's not afraid to challenge all of us to do better." — Voices and Faces Project

 

For current rape prevalence data, see:

Centers for Disease Control, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report: www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs

Dean Kilpatrick et. al., Drug-Facilitated, Incapacitated, and Forcible Rape: A National Study, 2007, www.ncjrs.gov.pdffiles1/nij/grants/219181.pdf

Bonnie Fisher et. al., The Sexual Victimization of College Women, 2000, www.ncjrs.gov/pdffilesl/nij/182369.pdf

 

Further information about rape in America:

www.counterquo.org

www.voicesandfacesproject.org (a forum for rape victims to share their accounts)

 

Blog on Rape Denial:

www.rogercanaff.com/site

 

Support for Rape Victims

The National Sexual Assault hotline: 1-8000-656-HOPE (4673)

 

Rape is Rape, Errata: On page 192 the reference to “fellatio” should read “anal penetration.”

Family law hosts 10th anniversary lecture with Sheriff Tom Dart

On Wednesday, February 13, the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center will celebrate its 10th anniversary with the 10th annual Valentine’s Day Family Violence Distinguished Lecture. "Dismantling the Exploitative Sex Trade Industry in Cook County: Barriers, Issues and Challenges" will cover myths and disinformation as well as how cultural supports, including the media, hamper efforts to end sex trafficking in Cook County.

The guest speaker for the event, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, will discuss his experience implementing end demand strategies to eliminate trafficking and exploitation of young women and girls in the sex trade industry. Sheriff Dart's Human Trafficking Response Team (HTRT) has responded to the exploitation of females in the sex trade in Cook County since 2009.

The 10th anniversary Valentine's Day lecture coincides with the release of Family Law Center Senior Research Fellow Jody Raphael and Lindsey LaPointe's recent HTRT study, The Cook County Sheriff’s Human Trafficking Response Team: A Law Enforcement Model. The report focuses on how effectively the HTRT initiative is addressing the demand side of prostitution and provides readers with a sense of the guiding principles of the project, statistics about its effects and information that can be used to replicate the model.

The Valentine's Day lecture will take place at the DePaul Center, Room 8005, 1 E. Jackson Boulevard, from 2:15 – 4:30 p.m. Registration for this event is full.

DePaul Legal Clinic named one of National Law Journal's 2012 Best of Chicago

The DePaul Legal Clinic was recently spotlighted as one of the city’s best. Earlier this month, the National Law Journal included the College of Law's clinical programs in its Best of Chicago 2012 awards, reader’s choice recognition of the top legal programs in Chicago. The award follows DePaul's recent unveiling of the Housing & Community Development Legal Clinic.

Established in spring 2012, the Housing & Community Development Legal clinic aids in the preservation and expansion of affordable housing in Chicago. It was developed and directed by Assistant Clinical Professor Julie Lawton, former senior supervising attorney to Georgetown’s housing law clinic.

The new clinic offers students opportunities to provide transactional legal assistance to small for-profit and nonprofit organizations engaged in affordable housing and community development work. Law students work with the institute to provide legal perspective in the development of policy initiatives to support the creation and preservation of affordable rental housing in the city. The Housing & Community Development clinic is aligned with the Institute for Housing Studies, an affordable housing research center in DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business.

DePaul University has a long tradition of community-based service learning, and the College of Law continues to exemplify this practice through its legal clinics. In the DePaul Legal Clinic, students have worked to defend copyright and trademark issues, represented clients in immigration court, drafted and negotiated housing contracts, and represented clients convicted of felony offenses in the appellate court.

 

Students get quick tips at annual mentoring reception

The Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center recently hosted their annual special mentoring reception, “Share Your Wisdom" (aka "Speed Lawyering!"), for students and public service attorneys.

 Thirty-five College of Law students had the opportunity to network about legal practice with the 12 public service attorneys in attendance.

Students were seated in small groups at various tables "manned" by the public service attorneys. Participants rotated between tables every 10 minutes, enjoyed hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and informally spoke with the various public service attorneys present at the event.

Issues discussed and agencies represented run the gamut of child and family issues, from child abuse and neglect, elder law, juvenile justice, divorce, adoption, disability & guardianship, education, special needs children, immigration, LGBTQ families, homeless families, domestic violence, sexual exploitation, etc.

In the spring, the Child & Family Law center will sponsor the event with private practitioners.

Schiller DuCanto & Fleck hosts Just Us Girls conference

The Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center recently hosted the 10th annual "Just Us Girls" conference, attended by 500 teenaged girls, ages 12-18, from urban, under-served areas. The young women came to the law school for a full day of interdisciplinary workshop.

Twenty-five DePaul College of Law students helped organize and run the event, presented two of the workshops, interacted with the girls, and assisted presenters throughout the day. Presenters included community leaders, psychologists, legal professionals, & school personnel discussing social and legal issues young girls and their families face. 3L student, Stefani Silberstein, did a terrific job assisting our child/family law center by organizing the law student effort.              

 

Launch of "Lost in Translation" Juvenile Justice Project

Phi Alpha Delta, the Black Law Student Association, and DePaul’s Diversity Committee have partnered with attorneys Heidi Lambros, Assistant Defender a the Office of the State Appellate Defender, and Maya Szilak, Director of the John Howard Association’s Prison Monitor Project, to create the "first ever" legal dictionary/library or "law book" specifically aimed at teens in the juvenile justice system.  "It is our hope that DePaul students can help educate and support the minors, both those kids charged as juveniles and those charged as adults; automatic transfer kids or “AT” kids, housed in the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center."  The goal is to help detained kids through this confusing and challenging time. 

At the launch of this project, Lambrose, Szilak, and Dr. Robyn Inaba, Lead Clinical Psychologist with the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, presented to DePaul students, who were then able to ask questions and gain a better understanding of the situation.  Following the panel, students volunteered to assist with the larger goal of creating easy to understand and age- appropriate written materials describing legal terms and concepts.  Translating "legalese" into plain language helps serve a population with a great need, and creates an opportunity for law students to give back on their own time, all while developing the skills necessary to grow as a legal writer. Each project volunteer is being emailed five (5) terms and given two weeks to translate the terms into simple non-patronizing explanation. 

As examples:

"State's Attorney"  - this is the lawyer who will try your case for the State.  He or she is not your lawyer and you should not speak to this person without your lawyer with you.  Think of them as your opponent.

"Bench trial" -- this means a trial before a judge only, no jury will listen to your case.  The judge will decide whether the State has proved you guilty. The choice to have a bench trial (or a jury trial) is yours alone.  Your lawyer can give you advice about what type of trial to have, but the decision is yours.

For those interested, this project will be ongoing and will allow those interested in juvenile law to continue working to create new, understandable documentation for the juvenile facilities, the kids, and the parents involved.  Moreover, there may be opportunities in the future to visit one or more of the JTDC's in Illinois.  Ultimately, these terms will be compiled into a "law book," which students will help create and then present to the kids and families at JTDC facilities. This project will immeasurably help the kids at the Juvenile Justice Detention Centers, as well as their families. Questions can be emailed to: LeahFarmer@gmail.com. 

 

Child/Family Law Center gives 34 students financial awards for public service

This summer the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center has given financial awards to 20 students for service learning work in public service agencies focusing on issues such as child abuse and neglect, elder law, divorce, sexual exploitation, juvenile justice, LGBTQ family issues, special education, domestic violence, etc. Additionally, the Center gave 14 students public service financial awards for part-time work during the school year. The Center places students in numerous service learning opportunities, including but not limited to: Office of the Public Guardian, Cook County Public Defender, Cook County States Attorney, Chicago Public Schools, Center for Disability and Elder Law, Life Span, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Legal Aid Society, Cook County Domestic Violence Court, Cook County Domestic Relations Court, National Immigrant Justice Center, Chicago Legal Clinic, etc. Note: The Center also assists in placing numerous students in private Family Law Firms