ConstitutionalLawProfBlog-June 9, 2014
Professor Steven Schwinn looks at the Supreme Court's decision in CTS Corp. v. Waldburger clarifying that CERCLA does not cover statues of repose for environmental issues.
↧
Professor Schwinn outlines SCOTUS decision on statute of repose
↧
Adjunct Professor Friedman creates a final around a comic book message
lawandthemultiverse.com-June 9, 2014
When Adjunct Professor Lawrence Friedman gave his final exam to his Trade Remedies class, students found the facts presented in a comic book format.
↧
↧
John Marshall professor, alumnus look at proposed constitutional amendments
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin-June 6, 2014
Professor Ann Lousin and Illinois House Minority Leader Rep. James Durkin (J.D. '88) comment on several Illinois constitutional amendments that may come before voters in the November election.
↧
Professor Long considers how current Asian artists are appropriating western images
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (column)- June 5, 2014
United States copyright rules have been in place for decades and give guidance to how iconic images can be protected. But in China, where copyright laws are fairly new and freedom of speech has a different interpretation, the guidelines aren't as clear.
↧
John Marshall faculty help plan, direct international writing conference
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin-June 9, 2014
Three faculty members at The John Marshall Law School helped plan and direct the Global Legal Skills Conference in Verona, Italy.
↧
↧
Professor Schwinn considers 6th Circuit ruling on religious accommodation
ConstitutionalLawProfBlog-June 11, 2014
Professor Steven Schwinn looks at the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on accommodations for religious institutions arguing mandates on contraception under the Affordable Care Act.
↧
Professor Schwinn reviews latest decision on Guantanamo claims
ConstitutionalLawProfBlog-June 11, 2014
Professor Steven Schwinn examines two court decisions against Guantanamo detainees. The court denied action on guard mistreatment claims by prisoners, and the court rejected the prisoners' request to remand the case to amend their complaint.
↧
Students help win settlement in federal case of excessive police force
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-June 11, 2014
Students in The John Marshall Law School Pro Bono Program have won a federal civil rights suit for a man who charged police with excessive force in his arrest.
↧
Professor O'Neill considers the challenges of making all court proceedings public
Chicago Daily Law Bulletin (column)-June 10, 2014
Professor Timothy P. O'Neill considers the importance that all court proceedings be open to the public. He discusses the challenges ahead in making open courtrooms a reality.
↧
↧
Alumnus Thomas Jasper selected for Younger Federal Lawyers Award
1888 Press Release-June 15, 2014
Marine Capt. Thomas Jasper (J.D. '97) has been selected the Younger Federal Lawyers Award recipient by the Federal Bar Association. He is serving as senior defense counsel for Legal Services Support Section Echo.
↧
Professor Schwinn discusses Supreme Court term at ACS meeting
4freecleblog-June 14, 2014
Professor Steven Schwinn of The John Marshall Law School will be among the panelists at the Eleventh Annual Supreme Court Term in Review discussion hosted by the American Constitution Society.
↧
Adjunct Professor Castagnoli says court's ruling court have chilling effect
KrebsonSecurity-June 14, 2014
A title company that sued for what it terms lax security protections lost its bid in court against BancorpSouth and now may be liable for court costs. The decision could have a "chilling effect on litigation" says Adjunct Professor Charisse Castagnoli.
↧
Alumnus Dan Cotter takes top spot at Chicago Bar Association
Monmouth College-June 15, 2014
Alumnus Daniel Cotter (J.D. '95) will be sworn in as the new president of the Chicago Bar Association at ceremonies June 26.
↧
↧
Professor Lim says Supreme Court decisions may reduce risk of patent abuse
WSFA.com-June 16, 2014
The Supreme Court overturned two decisions by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The unanimous decisions make it harder for patent owners to pursue opportunistic litigation, according to Professor Daryl Lim of the Center for Intellectual Property, Information and Technology Law.
↧
Professor Schwinn considers judge's decision denying U.S. citizen compensation
ConLawProfBlog-June 16, 2014
As unfortunate as it is, says Judge Emmet G. Sullivan, U.S. citizens do not have the right to sue the government for their mistreatment by government employees and agents. Professor Steven D. Schwinn looks at Judge Sullivan's decision in the case brought by Amir Meshal who was detained and allegedly tortured by U.S. agents in Africa.
↧
Alumnus Patrick Trueman tackles tough moral issues
CatholicHerald.com-June 17, 2014
Alumnus Patrick Trueman (J.D. '76) spent years fighting obscenity and child exploitation as an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. Today he is CEO and president of Morality in Media.
↧
Professor Mundy comments on the value of latest DNA technology product SmartWaterCSI
ABC7-TV-June 18, 2014
Professor Hugh Mundy comments on SmartWater CSI, a new liquid that is nearly invisible and is being used to reduce burglaries and thefts. Mundy isn't certain of its value in court cases, however.
↧
↧
City connections, strong friendships are points of pride for graduates
(Below is the commencement address delivered May 18, 2014, by class valedictorian Elizabeth Winkowski.)
On behalf of our class, I’d also like to thank the family, friends, mentors, and loved ones who are celebrating with us today. Thank you for being there for us. For forgiving us when we forgot to call you, and listening to us ramble on about the law when we did. You sustained us with care packages, love, and support. We would not be here without you.
To my fellow graduates, I would like to breathe a collective sigh of relief with you all. We’ve made it! For so long, this day seemed so far away, at times unreachable. But we’re finally here. Congratulations to us all.
Three years ago, we came together from every corner of the United States and different parts of the world. From Utah, and China, and California, and Texas. From Canada, and Russia, the North Shore, and the South Side. And yet, for three years, we’ve spent our days in a tiny geographical radius—a world that revolves around the axis of State and Jackson.
It’s not your typical law school campus. John Marshall is flanked by Garret’s Popcorn and a 24-hour Dunkin’ Donuts that is perpetually busy. By a pair of exclusive downtown clubs, the Metropolitan Correctional Center, and the Federal Courthouse. On cool, damp mornings downtown, you’ll hear the shriek of the “L” tracks and smell the lingering bus exhaust and cigarette smoke that fill the air. Late in the afternoon, reporters stand outside our doors on Plymouth Court, relaying the verdicts from trials being held in courtrooms across the street.
You won’t find a grassy quad, ivy-covered walls, or Gothic piles on our campus. But we have something far more interesting—and more important than that.
We are not closed off from the world to debate and discuss the law—but deeply connected to the city around us. For some, that means working at the Fair Housing Clinic to help a single mother secure a home in the face of discrimination. For others, it means going out into the communities and working with high school students in the Restorative Justice Program, or externing in the immigration court, or the public defender’s office. For all of us, it means seeing the bigger picture and being connected to a much wider world.
Our professors have encouraged us to make the city a part of our law school experience—to watch oral argument across the street, to participate in the bar association next door, or even to wander down to the Art Institute and let our imaginations run.
There’s something else that makes John Marshall special—and that is our connection to each other.
Marina Keegan, a gifted writer and young Yale graduate whose life was taken too soon, wrote an essay called the “Opposite of Loneliness” that so captured the feeling of being part of a close-knit place. She wrote:
“It’s not quite love and it’s not quite community; it’s just this feeling that there are people, an abundance of people, who are in this together. Who are on your team. When the check is paid and you stay at the table. When it’s 4 a.m. and no one goes to bed.”
This too is John Marshall. We have helped each other succeed—hashed out our notes and ideas in first-year study groups that have become three-year friendships, and will last much longer than that.
Wherever we go from here, whatever place we ultimately become a part of, we will always share this connection to this city and to each other. And with those big shoulders to stand on, anything is possible.
Thank you.
Elizabeth Winkowski, a Wisconsin native, received a B.A. from Boston College and an M.A. from Northwestern University. Before coming to law school, she moved to Chile for six months and taught English. She worked as an editor for McGraw-Hill and did did work in social media.
Winkowski took part in the law school’s IP summer program in China and was the lead articles editor for the Review of Intellectual Property Law. She served as a teaching assistant for Professor Maureen Collins, as well as serving as an extern in the U.S. District Court.
Elizabeth clerked throughout her law school career at Edelson P-C and accepted a position there. She will take a year off from the firm starting in January 2015, to serve as a law clerk for Judge Harry Leinenweber at the U.S. District Court.
↧
2014 Symposium on Elder Law and Policy Addresses the Rights of Older Persons
The unveiling of the “Chicago Declaration on the Rights of Older Persons” on July 11 will culminate a two-day international conference focusing on a variety of issues faced by older persons around the world.
The 2014 International Elder Law & Policy Conference will be presented July 10 and 11 at The John Marshall Law School as the 21st annual Belle R. and Joseph H. Braun Memorial Symposium. It is co-sponsored by the law school, Roosevelt University of Chicago and East China University of Political Science and Law in Shanghai, China. International scholars, advocates and policymakers will come together to discuss the law, policy and the implementation of human rights and legal protections of elder citizens around the world.
The Chicago Declaration will address a variety of issues facing older persons on an international level including the dignity and rights of the elderly and elimination of age discrimination; caring for the elderly – caregivers and surrogate decision makers; social security, pensions and other ways of financing retirement; the prevention of elder abuse; and access to justice for the elderly.
Professor Gerard Quinn, director of the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the School of Law at the National University of Ireland in Galway, will deliver the opening address for the symposium the morning of July 10.
Eilionóir Flynn will deliver the luncheon address on July 11. She is a senior lecturer and deputy director at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the School of Law at the National University of Ireland in Galway.
For additional information, visit http://www.jmls.edu/braun/
↧
Pro Bono Students Help Win Settlement in Federal Civil Rights Case
Students (front, from left) Margaret McWhorter, Tanvi Sheth, Kalli Kling and Matthew Kaufmann prepared the federal civil rights case representing Michael Knuth. They were joined by (in back) Katie Anderson, Pro Bono Program coordinator and staff attorney, and Professor F. Willis Caruso, Pro Bono Program director.
A judge’s request for students at The John Marshall Law School to handle a federal civil rights case proved to be an extraordinary experience that offered them an inside look into an attorney’s role at trial.
The team was successful in obtaining a settlement in a case filed by a man who complained police used excessive force when they shot him nine times.
“Our students clearly demonstrated they can prepare a case and present it in court,” said Professor F. Willis Caruso, director of the law school’s Pro Bono Clinic. “There are many new attorneys who won’t get to handle a case like this until they’ve been at a firm for two or three years.”
Over six months, third-year students Tanvi Sheth, Samantha Sims and Kalli Kling, and second-year students Margaret McWhorter and Matthew Kaufmann prepared to represent Michael Knuth, who alleged that police used excessive force when they shot him after a traffic stop in Lincoln, Ill. Knuth was wanted on a stolen gun charge and police say in 2009, he pointed a gun at them during the traffic stop. Students were prepared to argue that police radio calls announced that Knuth “was down” after he’d been shot five times, yet a police officer and the police chief shot him four more times.
The Pro Bono Clinic took the case at the request of Chief Judge James E. Shadid of the U.S. District Court, Central District of Illinois, with students working under the supervision of Caruso and Pro Bono Program coordinator and staff attorney Katie Anderson.
“Our students handled every aspect of this case. They pored through documents, they researched issues, they strategized how they would present the facts, they went to Stateville Correctional Center to visit their client, they prepared witnesses and they video-conferenced with the other attorneys and the judge,” explained Caruso.
Sheth used her 711 license to serve as the lead attorney. She worked to develop the arguments, conduct the conferences between the opposing counsel and the judge, selected the jury and readied the opening statement. She also worked with Caruso to negotiate a settlement on behalf of Knuth.
“This was my first time in court and I was very nervous, but at the same time I knew I was prepared. We had been working for months, and my time day-in and day-out was focused on this case,” Sheth said. “We were trained that you don’t come (to court) empty handed, which is why we did so much research in preparation. We looked at this case from many angles.”
On the trial date – April 14, 2014 – the students and professors appeared before Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Ill. The team helped select a jury, put several motions before the judge and were ready for opening arguments when Knuth decided to accept an offer to settle the claim.
The students said their work gave them insights into the legal system that they wouldn’t have gotten until they were practicing attorneys.
“Yes, being in the courtroom was nerve racking,” said McWhorter, “but I had such a great feeling being there,” working on behalf of someone who needed representation. “I felt I was a part of something special, and that I was carrying on the legacy of the law.”
For Kling – who recently graduated in May – the case perfectly capped off her law school career, saying it was “the practical experience that brought it all together.”
↧