Vincent G. Rinn Law Library

Jim Lyons, 1971 DePaul Law Grad Named An Honorary Consul For Ireland

Mr. James M. Lyons, a 1971 law graduate of the DePaul Law School and member of the DePaul University College of Law Dean's Council, has been named as an Honorary Consul For Ireland in the Denver area. He will join five other Honorary Consuls in the U.S.

He served as a special adviser to former President Bill Clinton on peace initiatives and economic development in Ireland and Northern Ireland. He holds an honorary doctorate of laws from the University of Ulster. As a partner in the firm of Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons LLP, Mr. Lyons area of practice is focused in complex business litigation and arbitration of all types, including corporate, securities and insurance law. As honorary consul, he plans to  promote the development of Ireland’s business and cultural ties to the Denver area.

Pioneering DePaul Law School Graduate, Anne M. Sullivan, Dies at 99

  When Anne Chawk ( Mrs. Anne Sullivan) was born in 1910 there were still numerous horse and buggies on the roads and very few female lawyers in practice. Working her way through school she was only one of five female graduates from the 1933 class of the DePaul Law School. She had to sign her job applications as "A.M. Chawk" to stand a chance of being considered for a position. In a 2009 DePaul Dialogue profile of her mother, her daughter Deborah Sullivan Roberts, says that her mother "...remembers that a woman would not dare use her first name when applying for a legal job." Anne commended DePaul for being a pioneer in admitting women to the law school.

Her first legal job was a volunteer position that she got with the help of her sisters in her legal sorority, Kappa Beta Pi. Within a year she was working  with the law firm of DeFrees, Fike, O'Brien & Thompson, where she met her future husband, John Sullivan. In 1948 they established their own practice as Sullivan & Sullivan. She maintained the practice after her husband died in 1973. In 1990 Anne and her daughter Deborah, also a DePaul law grad, partnered to practice probate law.

As if all this weren't enough of an achievement, Anne also managed to help raise eight children, a major job in itself. The Chicago Tribune obituary mentions that "A Tribune feature in 1960 on MRS. Sullivan's family-career balancing act lauded her as someone who "concocts a cake or legal brief with equal ease".

Professor Ottley Speaks on Post-Conflict Justice & Alien Torts Claims Act

Professor Tuerkheimer's Article Argues "Shaken Baby Syndrome" Based on Shaky Science

A congressionally mandated report to investigate forensic techniques and personnel, released in February 2009, unexpectedly questioned the presumption  of scientific validity for most of the traditional techniques used as evidence in the criminal courtroom. The report entitled "Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward", found that, "The simple reality is that the interpretation of  forensic evidence is not always based on scientific studies to determine its validity." "...there is a notable dearth of peer-reviewed, published studies establishing the scientific bases and validity of many forensic methods."

The treatment of this kind of evidence in the courts has not provided a check on the introduction of the results of such questionable techniques.As the report states, "Federal appellate courts have not with any consistency or clarity imposed standards ensuring the application of scientifically valid reasoning and reliable methodology in criminal cases involving Daubert questions."

The report examined and commented on a variety of forensic criminal techniques but not on the medically related forensic evaluation called "Shaken baby syndrome" (SBS). As reported in the article "A Shake to the System" by Radley Balko,  DePaul Professor Tuerkenheimer's recent law review article,"The Next Innocence Project: Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Criminal Courts", extends this critical re-evaluation to SBS as a medical diagnosis and criminal evidence.

The first part of the article looks at the changing medical opinion regarding SBS, stating  that "Despite its lingering presence in the popular imagination, the scientific underpinnings of SBS have crumbled over the past decade [FN 65] as the medical establishment has deliberately discarded a diagnosis defined by shaking."[FN 66] The second half of the article,examines several facets of SBS in the legal system from investigation to post-conviction.

In her conclusion she asks how well our legal system will deal with the apparent deficiencies and their impact on the question of the innocence of many convicted under the previous paradigm."To date, our system has failed. In place of adaptation, we have seen massive institutional inertia. Once the SBS prosecution paradigm became entrenched, the crime became reified. Deferential review standards and a quest for finality perpetuated the system‘s course. How expeditiously, and how deliberately, this course is righted will inform the meaning of justice"

DePaul "Rule of Law" Journal Launched by Students

DePaul law students with a particular interest in international law have created a new Online journal focused on the concept of “The Rule of Law”. It will be a student-run publication with faculty advisors from DePaul’s International Human Rights Law Institute ( IHRLI).

Just as “The Golden Rule” is sometimes facetiously defined as “He who has the gold, rules”. So too “The Rule of Law” can be a very different creature depending on who rules and claims authority of the law. From country to country and over time the idea of the rule of law can take on varying meanings for the participants.

According to the mission statement the new journal will work to “…define “rule of law,” propose new rule-of-law initiatives and critique existing ones, and discuss how rule of law can be established or strengthened in different nations and at different times.” So the journal will delve into the conceptual issues and also the pragmatic endeavors to establish a just rule of law.

The Journal will contain articles and what are called “Rule of Law Briefs”. Suggested topics for the articles include case studies of successful and unsuccessful rule of law initiatives, the role of human rights in reforming governmental institutions, proposed solutions to problems encountered in rule of law initiatives.

Rule of Law Briefs are short, fact-based, research-driven, student-written piece that cover a narrow rule of law topic, such as a particular rule-of-law building project, or a particular problem somewhere in the world.

The journal hopes to encourage broad participation from various constituencies and to become “…a freely-accessible resource for rule-of-law data and policy discussion...”

Law Professor Havel's New Book on the Future of International Aviation

"Ongoing deregulation of the international air transport industry has revealed a compelling need for entirely new forms of governance. In his new book, “Beyond Open Skies: A New Regime for International Aviation” ( Kluwer 2009 ), DePaul University College of Law professor and associate dean Brian Havel explores the legal and policy structure needed to effectively govern international civil aviation in the future. Havel, who also directs the university’s International Aviation Law Institute,  provides a critical analysis of aviation’s regulatory framework and addresses how it may obstruct the industry from serving the public and delivering benefits to employees and investors alike."
( From Media-Newswire.com  here)

[ Note to Editors: To obtain a review copy of “Beyond the Open Skies,” visit Kluwer’s Web site at www.kluwerlaw.com/CustomerServ/.  Brian Havel can be reached at 312/362-5222 or bhavel@depaul.edu. ]

Three Latinas at DePaul Law School Reflect On Sotomayor

An article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune by Oscar Avila, presents the views of three female law students with Latino backgrounds from the DePaul University Law School, on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and how this historic event has affected their own journey to a legal career. Mr. Avila provides some  background information and presents quotes from each of the three local students.

DePaul Law Alum To Run For Illinois Governor

Illinois State Senator Kirk Dillard (R – Hinsdale), a 1982 DePaul Law School graduate who also serves on the Dean’s advisory council, is declaring his candidacy for governor.  An article in “The Times” newspaper ( Ottowa, Streator) indicates that  Mr. Dillard’s campaign will include such issues as taxes, ethics reform, job creation and education.

“Kirk Dillard has served in all three branches of state government. He was a judge for the Illinois Court of Claims, chief of staff for Gov. Jim Edgar, director of legislative affairs for Gov. James Thompson and was elected state senator in 1994.” Mr. Dillard is a partner at the Chicago law firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell.

The Spring 2008 issue of the DePaul Law School magazine, Dialogue, has an interesting political profile of Mr. Dillard. Most interesting is his willingness to appear in an ad for Barak Obama with whom he worked closely on some major issues in the legislature. But as Mr. Dillard makes it clear, “Politics is always a game of friendships and relationships,”... “I think highly of Senator Obama and I respect him, but I’m a John McCain delegate.”

American Bar Association Units Re-examine Law School Accreditation

While the American Bar Association annual meeting in Chicago is about a month away, the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility just recently finished its 35th National Conference on Professional Responsibility (May 27-30) in our town. While several issues were on the agenda, one may be of particular interest to our readers.

The ABA Section of Legal Education has begun a comprehensive review of the ABA law school accreditation standards. Members of the Accreditation Standards Review Committee  discussed the committee’s approach and some of the hot button issues and sought input from the attendees, as to possible improvements in the standards.

A recent article in the ABA Journal, "Sweeping Accreditation Review May Prompt ‘Sea Change’ in Law School Evals", By James Podgers, Jun 3, 2009,  reports on some of the discussion that took place at the meeting :

“The most significant change in the Standards for Approval of Law Schools is likely to be a move away from evaluating law schools on the basis of criteria that measure “input”—such things as faculty size, budget and physical plant. Instead, the Legal Education Section would evaluate law schools more heavily on the basis of “outcome” measures.”

“Other key issues the Standards Review Committee will look at include “security of position” for law school professors and other teachers, which will encompass the tenure structure. The committee also will consider ways to make the law school accreditation and review process more transparent.”

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Section of Legal Education & Admission to the Bar of the ABA which has the responsibility for the accreditation of law schools has relevant reports that have been produced within the last few years that present different positions on some of these “hot button” issues. Here are three that may be of interest to our readers:

REPORT OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON SECURITY OF POSITION, 5/5/08

ALDA - American Law Deans Association Security of Position comment, July 21, 2008

Special Committee on Security of Position, July 21, 2008

DePaul Invites Law School Deans to Address Impact of "Vanishing Trials"

Dean Weissenberger  and the DePaul University Law School are inviting law school deans to a symposium entitled " Vanishing Act: Legal Education in a World Without Trials" on July 31-Aug. 1, to coincide with the annual American Bar Association meeting in Chicago. The symposium is being sponsored by Clifford Law offices, a Chicago personal injury firm which has made contributions to the  DePaul Law School for an endowed  faculty chair in tort law and social policy that makes possible an annual symposium addressing a timely issue in the tort law area.

A June 10, 2009 story in The National Law Journal story about the symposium, cites the statistic that federal civil trials dropped to 3,500 in 2006 from about 12,000 in 1984. Attorney Robert A. Clifford finds this reduction to be a serious concern because "The rise in alternative dispute resolution and the corresponding increase in confidential settlement agreements is problematic because the lack of transparency will make it difficult for the government and taxpayers to determine how the court system is performing and to what it extent it should be funded." Dean Wiseenberger says "This is an issue of huge concern," that may affect the value of the case law method that is used in most law schools.

"University of Chicago Law School Professor Craig Futterman, Yale Law School Professor Judith Resnik and Duke Law School Dean David Levi are among the panelists who will speak at the symposium. The keynote speaker for the event will be Kenneth Feinberg, a Washington attorney and law school lecturer who was appointed to oversee the federal government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Book and essay on the issue :

From The University of Chicago Press release :

In The Death of the American Trial, Robert Burns warns that this decline could lead not only to the loss of a vaunted institution, but also to the dangerous erosion of American democracy."..."As one federal judge put it, the jury is the ”canary in the mineshaft; if it goes, if our people lose their inherited right to do justice in court, other democratic institutions will lose breath too.“

SSRN( Social Science Research Network) essay on "The Death of the American Trial" by Robert P. Burns,  Northwestern University - School of Law