DePaul Law News

Volunteers coach Legal Prep students to victory at mock trial competition

DePaul College of Law Dean Mark serves as Legal Prep Charter School mock trial judge.

This past year, a team of DePaul College of Law volunteers worked with Legal Prep Charter Academy ninth graders to prepare them for their end of the year mock trial competition, which took place on Tuesday, May 13, 2013 at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse Building. 

DePaul worked with two groups of Legal Prep students and both groups won their competitions. The case was a civil matter involving an allegation that a police officer used excessive force when arresting a teenage boy, who was the plaintiff. The DePaul teams represented the defense.

Several DePaul volunteers also served as judges for other teams, including College of Law Dean Greg Mark, alumna Linda Bryceland (JD '86), and Pro Bono Director Cheryl Price. Professor Mark Moller, alumna Jessica Schneider (JD '10), College of Law staff member Elizabeth Boe, and law student Beckee Birger coached the DePaul teams during the competition. Dean Mark was the only law school dean who volunteered to assist at the competition.     

For many of the students, the mock trial program was their first in-depth study of our legal system and the components of a trial. The Legal Prep students prepared and delivered both opening and closing statements and called witnesses for direct and cross examination. DePaul volunteers, who have been working with Legal Prep students since September 2012, first taught lessons on these topics and then helped students prepare their parts for the mock trial.

Journal for Social Justice hosts affordable housing-focused symposium

The DePaul Journal for Social Justice hosted its annual symposium on April 17, 2013, which focused on housing issues as they affect low-income populations in Chicago. The symposium was co-sponsored by the Center for Public Interest Law and supported by the Vincentian Endowment Fund. Take Shelter: Keep Shelter, the theme of the event, provided information and discussion on the mortgage foreclosure crisis, the creation of affordable housing, and the Chicago Housing Authority’s one-strike eviction policy to more than 70 attorneys, law students and community members.

During the first panel, speakers discussed the mortgage foreclosure crisis, including its history, lasting effects and proposed solutions for working with clients who have been hardest hit by the crisis. Daniel Lindsey, supervisory attorney for the consumer practice group at Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, started the panel with an apt comparison of the mortgage bubble to the creation and ultimate demise of the infamous Titanic.

"Law matters," Richard M. Daley to DePaul University law graduates

 

Richard M. Daley, who served as mayor of Chicago for 22 years, delivered the commencement speech May 19 at DePaul University’s College of Law. Daley earned his law degree from DePaul in 1968 as well as a bachelor’s degree in 1964. He cited his DePaul education as “the foundation on which my career has been built.” (Photo by Thomas Vangel)

In remarks to graduates from DePaul University’s 100-year-old College of Law, Richard M. Daley described the law as “the rulebook for society.”

The former Chicago mayor, who earned a law degree from DePaul in 1968, told graduates “When you change the rulebook, you can literally change how the world works.”

He noted that the law “is more than statutes and rules and regulations and proceedings. It is the architecture that determines how we interact with one another. Like any other kind of architecture, if you change the design, you change the outcome. Do you want to change the world? Then you change the law.”

Citing his 22 years of experience as Chicago’s mayor and nearly 10 years as the Cook County State’s Attorney, Daley used the issue of gun violence to illustrate that there are “intriguing legal questions” at the core of some of today’s social challenges.

“In the time since I received my DePaul law degree, over 100,000 children and teenagers have been killed by guns in the United States of America…. I’m not going to tell you that there are easy answers to the problem of gun violence. There are not. But I will ask you some legal questions.

“Should it be easier to buy a gun than it is to buy a car? Why is the gun industry shielded from liability when no other industry enjoys such protection? If some other product were killing thousands of children every year, would Congress and its citizens issue the manufacturers of that product blanket immunity? If a gun shop repeatedly sells guns that end up in the hands of criminals, should that be a criminal offense?” Daley posed.

“These are obviously difficult and divisive questions,” Daley said. “My message today is simple: How you answer these legal questions will affect who gets killed on our streets. The law matters.”

He continued, “Those of us who study law — including all of our new graduates here today — must recognize that laws have consequences. They shape society. They determine how we interact with each other and with the rest of the world.

“You graduate today as our nation is facing a new set of challenges…. You will leave here today with more than a graduate degree. You will leave here with an understanding of the most powerful lever that we have for improving America and the world,” Daley said. “And that is the law.”

Conferring law degrees on 314 graduates was the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, president of DePaul University. Introducing Daley was Gregory Mark, dean of the College of Law, which is celebrating its centennial.

 

Article reprinted from DePaul Newsroom.

Click here for photos of the 2013 College of Law Commencement Ceremony, or view a webcast of Sunday's event.

Justice Ginsburg speaks at DePaul's tricentennial celebration

From left: Interim Provost Patricia O'Donoghue, Dean Donald Casey (Music), Justice Ginsburg, Dean Ray Whittington (Business), Dean Gregory Mark (Law).

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was in Chicago May 10 to help DePaul celebrate the centennials of three of its schools -- law, business and music -- at an evening event featuring live opera selections and discussion about how law is portrayed in them.

Ginsburg, an opera aficionado who has appeared onstage in cameo opera roles and studied the intersection of opera and the law, provided commentary for the event at the Chicago History Museum.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Ginsburg's presentation in its coverage of the centennnial event.

 

Restorative justice: a path to resolution through rounded discussion

For the past five years, Elizabeth Vastine and Peter Newman have invited College of Law students to sit in a circle and talk.

Vastine and Newman teach a course at the College of Law in restorative practices, a process that has been gaining ground in the legal community as an effective alternative dispute resolution possibility.

It’s a process that encourages both communicating and listening in a safe, responsible and effective manner. The process works whether the participants are merely discussing ideas or options, or are resolving conflicts. “Restorative practices are about helping to create safe space for whatever the dialogue might be,” said Vastine.

The philosophy has roots in many ancient and indigenous cultures. The process first gained currency in Illinois in connection with criminal and juvenile matters, and is often spoken of in terms of victims and offenders and, occasionally, forgiveness. Yet, as Vastine and Newman contend, the process is much, much more.

DePaul law students honored for reporting a record total 18,500 hours of service

The Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) held its annual service awards reception on April 25, 2013, and recognized students who completed at least 50 hours of pro bono and community service work while at DePaul. Students received awards for reporting 50, 100 and 200 hours of service. Graduating students who reported 200 hours of service received the Benjamin Hooks Distinguished Public Service Award. The award’s namesake, Benjamin Hooks, graduated from DePaul in 1948 and was the first African-American criminal court judge in Tennessee, the first African-American appointed to the FCC and led the NAACP from 1976 to 1991. He received the Medal of Freedom in 2007.  

This year, students reported a record 18,500 service hours, with 120 students receiving an award. Students volunteered at a wide range of sites, including DePaul’s Domestic Violence Courthouse Project and Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, Center for Disability & Elder Law, Chicago Legal Clinic, Cabrini Green Legal Aid, and the National Immigrant Justice Center, to name just a few. Cheryl Price, PBCSI’s attorney director, notes: “We are proud that so many of our students are committed to pro bono and community service work. This year’s record number of service hours is a reflection of that commitment. We know that PBCSI will continue to attract more and more students because pro bono makes a difference while helping law students hone their legal skills.”

PBCSI also recognized alumna Colby Kingsbury (JD '00), for her pro bono work with the 2013 Pro Bono Alumni Award. Kingsbury is a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP where she focuses on commercial, employment, and intellectual property litigation. Kingsbury has a remarkable pro bono record. She has dedicated countless hours to serving incarcerated individuals, immigrants and youth. She is one of the leaders of Faegre Baker Daniel’s Africa Project, which gives the firm’s attorneys a direct opportunity to participate in advancing the rule of law in African countries. Additionally, Kingsbury has successfully represented inmates of Cook County DePartment of Corrections in Section 1983 civil rights actions seeking relief from excessive force by institutional staff and inadequate protection from other inmates. For more than a decade, she has served as co-counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois in a federal action to represent a class of all detained youth at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center in seeking improved confinement conditions. Her work on behalf of youth also includes serving as board president for the James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, which provides legal and social services to youth in Evanston and the surrounding area. She also represents immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. and serves on the National Immigrant Justice Center’s Litigation Steering Committee. According to Cheryl Price: “Ms. Kingsbury is a great example for our law students. She is committed to pro bono and has taken the time to cultivate a rich and rewarding pro bono practice as part of her very successful law career. Her work is inspiring. We are delighted to recognize her with DePaul’s 2013 Pro Bono Alumni Award.”

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.

 

 

Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project celebrates one-year mark helping homeless

 

NLAP law student volunteers Nick Gutierrez (class of 2014) and Megan Davis (class of 2014) assist a client at NLAP.

Last year’s summer-like St. Patrick’s Day was an anomaly and meant, for many, shorts and a t-shirt could be worn for festivities. But, for the homeless in the South Loop, the day was momentous for other, more serious reasons.

That day, DePaul launched the Neighborhood Legal Assistance Project (NLAP) and it was the first time many of them had access to free legal services. NLAP is DePaul College of Law’s signature pro bono legal help desk to help the homeless and indigent in the South Loop. Developed by the Pro Bono & Community Service Initiative (PBCSI) and the Center for Public Interest Law, NLAP operates twice a month at a free breakfast program run by the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple and located at Grace Episcopal Church.

NLAP focuses on assistance with expunging and sealing criminal records and obtaining state IDs because, as noted by Cheryl Price, PBCSI director and NLAP co-founder, “Lacking a state ID or having a criminal record can be a barrier to obtaining housing, public, benefits, and employment.” NLAP volunteers also make referrals to legal aid and social service agencies in the community for issues outside of NLAP’s purview. NLAP is staffed by DePaul law student volunteers and supervising attorney and College of Law alumnus, Damon Ritenhouse. As of April 1, 2013, NLAP has hosted 24 sessions and has assisted nearly 175 clients. 

Price is pleased with NLAP’s impact over the course of the year: “DePaul College of Law is rooted in a Vincentian tradition of service and social justice. NLAP embodies that tradition. Through NLAP, we are helping some of Chicago’s most vulnerable and needy citizens while exposing our law students to pro bono work and helping them to develop practical legal skills.” NLAP is exploring the possibility of expanding its services to include executive clemency matters and is hoping to offer service every week, rather than every other week, starting in fall 2013.  

For more information about NLAP, please contact PBCSI Director, Cheryl Price at cprice13@depaul.edu.

Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic educates students while supporting the community

DePaul’s Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic received coverage in DePaul Distinctions.

In the article, Clinical Instructor Sarah J. Diaz discussed the ways in which the clinic benefits DePaul students and the community. 

"Working in the clinic can also have a profound personal impact, as our students witness how immigration laws affect individual lives" said Diaz. "They see the confusion and fear that immigration laws and policies engender, and they see how clients are affected by positive outcomes."

"The clinic was my best experience in law school because we had actual clients, from the beginning," said student Amany Ezeldin. "In every case, we took the long, arduous path to a resolution — yes, the professors had the answers, but learning step-by-step was the best education possible."

Led by Professor Sioban Albiol, DePaul’s Asylum & Immigration Law Clinic offers legal aid to hundreds of immigrants and refugees each year, while providing support and training to 25 community-based organizations.

 

CPIL panel highlights legal remedies to common employer abuses

On Thursday, February 22, the Center for Public Interest Law organized a panel discussion worker’s rights and common instances of workplace abuse. The four panelists also gave advice for those interested in pursuing legal careers in labor law. Adam Kadar, an organizer with the ARISE Chicago Worker Center, described his organization’s successful lobbying efforts in passing a city anti-wage theft ordinance. Kadar also described the most common violations of federal labor law, including withholding wages (especially common in construction or contract work), requiring employees arrive early or stay late without compensation, or making unlawful wage deductions for uniforms or transportation.

Karen Engelhardt, an attorney for over 30 years, encouraged aspiring labor lawyers to learn a second language, or improve their legal writing skills, in order to gain an advantage in a tough economy. She also reminded students that it was possible to juggle pro bono and paid work. Alejandro Caffarelli, a founding shareholder of Caffarelli and Siegel Ltd., emphasized the importance of keeping fee shifting laws on the books for labor litigation, so that larger firms can continue to litigate smaller claims on behalf of less powerful clients. Caffarelli also indicated that the Supreme Court has recently become more hostile to class action suits alleging employor misconduct. 

Yolanda Carrillo, an alumna and attorney with Working Hands Legal Clinic, described her organizations’ work with low income and undocumented workers who are most vulnerable to workplace abuse. She stressed the importance of multifaceted strategies that include policy change and community organizing in addition to pursuing individual claims.