A Day in the Life

Congratulations to the Winners of the 2008 Hinton Moot Court Competition

In follow-up to Monday's posting about the Hinton Moot Court Finals we are pleased to announce that this winners of the 2008 Hinton Moot Court competition were Kyle Reynolds '08 and Michael Walsh '08.  All the contestants received copious and glowing reviews from all three justices each of whom expressed their delight in seeing any of the finalists in their courtrooms in the future.  Congratulations to all the finalists and the hard-working Moot Court Board for organizing yet another amazing competition!

Hinton Moot Court Finals

Making it to the Hinton Moot Court Finals is no small feat.  The four finalists, Cleve Doty '09, Kyle Reynolds '08, Stephen Schwartz '08, and Michael Walsh '08, persevered through two grueling rounds of arguments against some stiff competition from their talented classmates.  Now with the Finals just hours away some of our finalists shared their thoughts on this year-long experience.

"Moot Court has been a wild ride. I showed up for both the preliminary and semi-final rounds intending to put in a good effort even though I was I sure I wouldn't move on, yet I was pleasantly surprised when I did.  The faculty panel [comprised of Professors Julie Roin, Lisa Bernstein and Tom Ginsburg]: they ask all of those hard questions you hope they're not going to raise.  As for the Finals, I'm just happy to participate.  My parents are flying up from Texas and it will be an honor to argue with the other finalists."  - Cleve Doty '09

"The Moot Court competition has been terrific thus far.  You have to be at your best, of course, because you're up against some of the best legal writers and debaters at the Law School.  Even though the competition is tough the competition have been very collegial because some of my favorite people at the Law School have been involved.  I'm excited to advance with the other finalists and to argue before a panel of federal judges."  - Stephen Schwartz '08

"I watched the moot court competition during my first two years at the Law School and it looked like a great time.  So far it has met my expectations.  Like working in the Clinic, moot court is a good measure of how much I've learned in three years (and how much I will learn in the next thirty years).  I'm excited to argue in the last round when the all the judges come to town."  - Michael Walsh '08

The Finals will be held tomorrow, May 6th, before a panel of prestigious federal judges, Frank Easterbrook, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and U of C Senior Lecturer in Law, Judge Margaret McKeown of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Judge Barbara Rothestein of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.  This year's case is Carcieri v. Kempthorne, 497 F.3d 15 (1st Cir. 2007) which addresses the question of whether the federal government has the ability to take land into trust for Native American Indian Tribes not recognized until after the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934.  Good luck to our finalists!

Students Helping Students

One of the most common topics about which we receive questions here in Admissions is the level of competition at the Law School.  The answer I usually give is that our students are competitive with themselves but not each other, and are, in fact, more than happy to help one another wade through Fed Jur or Con Law I.  A great example of this is a session organized by the Law Women's Caucus (LWC) to help 1Ls choose the best elective for the Spring Quarter.  All 1Ls choose one elective from a selection of seven to eight 2L/3L classes, including Legislation (taught by Professor Gersen '04), Health Law (taught by Professor Malani '00), Economic Analysis of the Law, and Copyright (taught by Professor Picker '85), as their fourth class.  To aid the 1Ls in this process member of the LWC held an informal session where the upperclassmen shared their experiences and opinions on specific classes and about the way to choose classes more generally.  One of the 1Ls in attendance, Michelle Sowemimo ('10), shared her thoughts on the session:

"I found the session EXTREMELY helpful to understanding more about the electives beyond what was already available on the website.  The 2Ls and 3Ls who gave advice did an excellent job of balancing both the pros and cons of each elective.  This gave me a clearer idea of what each elective would entail.

I think being able to choose electives in the first year will really help me to start narrowing down my academic interests.  I also didn't realize until the session that I would be in classes with 2Ls and 3Ls which I think is also a great asset!"

Thanks, Michelle!  For more information on academic support services offered by the Law School contact Maureen Sheehan '04, Associate Director of Student Affairs, who is a great source of guidance about crafting your course schedule not only for the 1L  year but for the entirety of your law school career.

Student Organizations 101: Spring Break of Service

So we've been gone for awhile and I know many of you have been waiting with breathless anticipation of the next blog post so here it is ...  Student Organizations 101:  Spring Break of Service (SOS) with an introduction by Lindsey Marcus, one of the SOS leaders.

"For the second year U of C Law students participated in a service trip to the Gulf Coast organized by the Spring Break of Service (SOS) student organization.  Twenty-three students performed volunteer legal aid work in Biloxi, Mississippi with the Mississippi Center for Justice, a non-profit, public interest law firm committed to advancing racial and economic justice.  Nearly all of the Center's work at its Biloxi office is focused on responding to the massive and continually emerging housing-related legal needs of low-income people and communities left in Hurricane Katrina's wake. 

Among the projects students did were intake at walk-in legal aid clinics; follow-up interviews with Center clients who have been victims of contractor fraud; organizing and conducting a parcel-by-parcel inventory of a historically African-American community in Gulfport, MS to help the community access disaster recovery funds; conducting a door-to-door survey about a proposed industrial site that would be located in the middle of a residential community and that would also require the destruction of 70 acres of wetlands; and researching how Mississippi spends its disaster recovery funds.

To fund this trip SOS engaged in a number of fund-raising events here at the Law School including a bake sale and a special Valentine's Day-gram and also relied upon generous donations from Chicago law firms Winston & Strawn and Mayer Brown.  Alumni, the Law Students Association and the University Community Service Center also contributed to cover the participants' travel expenses.

Overall the trip was an amazing experience.  Although the damage Katrina caused no longer get much attention in the media, there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done.  Working with the Center reminded us of why we all went to law school in the first place."

Thanks, Lindsey!  Stay tuned for more student organization posts coming soon ....

Student Organizations 101: Environmental Law Society

Next in "Student Organizations 101" series is the Environmental Law Society (ELS) which, in conjunction with the Public Interest Law Society, held a lunchtime speaking event on careers in public interest work in environmental law.  Below is a recap of the event, and an introduction to ELS, by Kristin Greer Love ('09).

"Last week the Environmental Law Society (ELS) and the Public Interest Law Society (PILS) co-hosted "So, You Want to Save the Planet?: Public Interest Work in Environmental Law," a lunch talk with three young attorneys who are fighting the good fight for the environment.  Our lunch panel featured Andrew Armstrong of the Illinois Attorney General's Office's Environmental Division, Sherry Daun ('03) of the Chicagoland Bicycle Foundation and Meleah Geertsma of the Environmental Law and Policy Center.  Law students, undergraduate students from the College, and graduate students from the Harris School of Public Policy joined three public interest attorneys for a delicious lunch from a Hyde Park institution, Snail Thai restaurant.

The three lawyers shared invaluable insights for students who are interested in pursuing public interest work soon after law school.  Armstrong worked for a couple of years in the private school, gaining invaluable litigation that made him a stand-out candidate for his current job in the Attorney General's Office.  Daun began as a volunteer with the Bicycle Federation, while practicing elsewhere and now works with lawmakers and city officials to improve funding and planning for alternative transportation and to advocate for cyclists.  Geertsma completed a one-year Master's Degree program in Public Health after her J.D. which broadened her knowledge base and better prepared her to litigate and investigate complex public health and environmental concerns stemming from coal power plants.

Their advice? First, network with attorneys who have jobs that you would love to have a few years after graduation and talk with them about how they made it.  Next, read about loan forgiveness programs for public interest lawyers and borrow as little as possible during law school.  On the same note, live like a law student after graduating and use your income to pay down your debt.  The panelists also suggested courses such as Legislation for those interested in government practice such as working in a legislator's office or as a liaison between a public interest organization and legislators; Administrative Law and Environmental Law for those interested in (what else?) environmental work.  Another piece of advice was to consider a joint-degree program such as a JD-MPP [such as the program available at the Law School] that will add value and make you a better candidate on the public interest job work.  The panelists also suggested working in the private sector is also a great way to develop your skills before moving to a public interest position where you are likely to have a lot of responsibility right from the beginning.  Finally, they suggested volunteering and/or interning with organizations during law school to get a sense of whether you would like to work with them after law school."

Kristin also gives a run-down on past and future events ELS organized and embodies the type of commitment and enthusiasm students at the Law School have for their causes and interests, and the way they seek to inform the rest of the community about new issues.

"Earlier this year ELS sponsored a talk on congesting pricing with Visiting Professor Jonathan Nash [also a past Law School Bigelow Fellow to our very own Student Services Fellow, Kristen Mercado ('04)], a service trip to nearby Jackson Park to help with a habitat preservation project, and an outing to the annual Chocolate Festival at the Garfield Park Conservatory, a beautiful cultural and botanical center on Chicago's West Side.  In the Spring Quarter, we will host a talk with Professor Eric Posner among others on climate change justice.  We're also planning several events for Earth Week, including talks on homeland security and the environment, environmental issues in the Supreme Court, carbon markets, as well as a trip to dine at Chicago's Green Zebra and a river restoration project."

No one can call these ecologically-minded students lazy!  For more on other student organizations that contribute to the rich and diverse community at the Law School, revisit the blog soon.  You can also learn more about the intersection between the law and the environment you can soon read a review and listed to a podcast of the latest in the Chicago's Best Ideas series, "Climate Change and the Battle of the Generations," delivered by Dean Saul Levmore.

Announcing the New Student Events Podcast

In recent months, here at the Law School we've seen an increasing number of student organizations start recording their events for online distribution. Faced with an embarassment of riches, we've decided to launch a new podcast dedicated just to student org-sponsored events, which we're calling "Open Minds" (if you've seen the fences around the fountain construction lately, you'll catch the reference). And don't worry -- student events featuring Law School faculty will be added to both podcasts feeds, so you won't miss any of that Chicago audio goodness.

You can subscribe to Open Minds via iTunes or using the podcatcher of your choice.

Student Organizations 101: Asian Pacific American Law Students Association

As part of a series of introductions to the more than sixty student organizations at the Law School we are pleased to present an introduction to the Asian Pacific American Law Students Organization (APALSA).  APALSA, like many of our other student organizations, recently sponsored a lunchtime speaker event.  Karen Kim ('09) and James Moon ('09) provides with a recap of a recent event:

"Recently the University of Chicago's Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) held a lunchtime speaker events featuring two prominent government attorneys.  The first was Asheesh Agarwal ('97), Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice (DOJ) in Washington, DC.  The second was Manish Shah ('98), Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois here in Chicago.

Messrs. Shah and Agrawal spoke generally about the appeal of government positions in contrast to private practice.  They also discusses the role of political ideology in government services and the importance in legitimacy in federal law enforcement.  Mr. Agrawal shared his experiences in recent federal issues involving voting discrimination, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and political appointments within the DOJ.  Mr. Shah talked about the role of a prosecutor, the benefits and drawbacks of being a government prosecutor in contrast to a litigator in private practice, and the general difficulty of reconciling differences of opinion with the administration setting policy. 

Overall, the event was one of many activities sponsored by APALSA this year.  In addition to hosting a number of guest speakers, APALSA members volunteer monthly at a downtown legal aid clinic, run a Big & Little Sibling mentoring program for its junior members, and help organize networking events with APALSA groups from surrounding schools.  Through its activities, APALSA aims to foster a sense of community and provide a network of formal and informal support for Asian-American law students here at U of C."

Thanks to Karen and James for the recap and check back to the blog for the next installment in Student Organizations 101!

Preview of the Chicago Law Foundation 11th Annual Public Interest Auction

Each year, The Chicago Law Foundation ("CLF") hosts one of the most popular social events of the year, the Public Interest Auction.  This year's auction, "Prohib-Auction: Where the Drinks are Cold, but the Bidding is Hot," marks the eleventh anniversary and will be held on Thursday, January 31st at the Law School.  To promote the event as well as the type of work the auction supports, CLF hosted a preview lunch for students this past Tuesday, January 21st.  The law firm of Jenner & Block, LLP (and my former firm!), a sponsor of the event, also sponsored the lunch.  In attendance were two of my former colleagues and fellow graduates of the Law School, Melanie Nelson ('01) and Shannon Jones ('05), both of whom spoke not only about their experiences working with CLF during law school, but also the way they have been able to continue to give back to the community through pro bono work focusing on domestic violence and housing issues, respectively.  Melanie also shared an amusing and timely anecdote about an auction item she and a group of friends purchased during her 3L year.  The item was a day in Springfield at the Capital with then-State Senator and Law School Senior Lecturer in Law, Barack Obama.  At one point during the day Mr. Obama apologized to the students that he wasn't a "more important or impressive host for the day."

Euler Bropleh ('08), Co-Chair of this year's auction, provides us with this excellent overview of all the goodies up for frantic bidding as well as a bit more about CLF and all of its great work:

"One of the biggest events of the school year is a week away and you can feel the excitement.  Each year, the Chicago Law Foundation organizes an auction to raise money for students who pursue public interest work.  This year's Auction will be held on January 31st, from 4:30 PM - 8:30 PM here at the Law School.  The Chicago Law Foundation Executive Board hopefully to build on the success of past auctions.  Last year we raised over $44,000 which enabled us to provide grants to more than twenty students! 

One of the hallmarks of the Auction is the unique faculty items that are offered each year.  Students here at the Law School cherish their professors and the Auction gives them the opportunity to put a price on their appreciation.  Once again, Professor Douglas Baird will serve as auctioneer and he is also offering his highly coveted scotch tasting and dinner event.  Professor Baird is a trained chef and has an extensive scotch collection.  The scotch tasting has been one of the highest ticket items for many years running.

Dean Levmore and Professor Roin will take six lucky students for an afternoon of indoor wall climbing at Vertical Endeavors followed by a replenishing dinner.  Associate Dean David Zarfes will treat four students to an afternoon at the Peninsula Hotel Spa and dinner at Alinea, one of Chicago's seven AAA Five Diamond Award-winning restaurants.  Professor Miles offers a unique new outing to a Murder Mystery Weekend at the Bay Pointe Inn & Restaurant in Shelbyville, Michigan. 

The list of amazing faculty offerings go on and on; however, for the first time during my Law School days, non-faculty items may end up going for the most money.  Law firms, businesses, and alumni have all been extremely generous, and, as a result, we have some of the most spectacular items ever offered in the Auction.  Alumnus Clifford Weaver (AB '66, JD '69) and his wife Donna donated a week-long stay for four at their Italian wine estate, Le Miccine.  Kirkland & Ellis LLP is providing air fare to Italy and a four-night stay in Rome.  Latham & Watkins LLP has contributed a vacation package that includes gives winning bidders a choice of one of three unbeatable options: a Mediterranean cruise; a 60-day trip through all of South America; or a 3-week, luxury trip throughout Asia and Australia or New Zealand.  Neiman Marcus contributed a shopping spree followed by dinner with its CEO and General Counsel.  One last item sure to go for big bucks is the chance to attend the 2008 NBA Draft with NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver ('88).  You can view more of the other items at the Auction's website.

Since its inception, the Auction has grown to become one of the most important events of the year.  It is exciting not just because it gives us a chance to help our fellow classmates pursuing low-paying public service careers, but also because it is an event that the entire Law School community can enjoy.  You will see faculty and staff enjoying the festivities with students and alumni and the market forces hard at work as people are inspired by the generosity of those around them.  The event truly embodies the spirit of the Law School."

Thanks for the great sneak peek, Euler, and check back soon for a run-down on the results of the Auction and some pictures of all the fun!

What to Do With Your Law Degree: A Panel of Professional Women in Law

This past Friday, January 11th, the Law Women's Caucus and the Women's Mentoring Program co-sponsored a great panel of lawyers to discuss the wealth of options available to our graduates as well as their experiences as women in particular legal career paths.  Allison Handy ('09) gives us this recap of the event:

"The Law Women's Caucus and Women's Mentoring Program joined forces to create a panel event with women from all walks of legal life.  Our panel, "What to Do With Your Law Degree: A Panel of Professional Women in Law," was a great success.  We were able to bring Liisa Thomas ('96), a partner at the Chicago office of Winston & Strawn LLP; Alison LaCroix, Assistant Professor here at the Law School; Joan Laser (AM '70, JD '79), an Assistant United State's Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Katharine Wolanyk ('96), President and Co-Founder of Soverain, a e-commerce software and services company here in Chicago; and Miriam Hallbauer ('95), senior lawyer for the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago to the Law School for an hour-long panel discussion followed by a special Wine Mess where all the panelist stuck around to talk with students.

Many students (even a few mean, I was happy to see!) attended the event to hear about the career paths of these very different women.  The panelists talked about the ways they chose their careers and how those decisions led them to their current positions.  While their choices have been different -- Ms. Wolanyk's decision to launch a career in business from her background in engineering and mergers and acquisitions, Ms. Hallbauer's embrace of public interest work in lieu of a more lucrative law firm career -- all the panelists emphasized that students should pick a career about which they can be passionate."

Thanks to Allison for the great description and to all the panelists for taking time from busy schedules to participate!

Latino Law Students Association & Law Women's Caucus Team Up to Bring Anita Alvarez, Chief Deputy State's Attorney to the Law School

One of the best things about the U of C's small community is that not only do students interact and collaborate on a regular basis but so do many of the more than 60 student organizations at the Law School.  Today's lunchtime event was an example of one such event.  Chris Baeza ('09), one of the student leaders of LLSA, provides us with a recap of the event:

Knowing that many of the students interested in serving the public good, Latino/a Law Students Association and Law Women's Caucus teamed up to bring Anita Alvarez to the Law School for a lunchtime event.  Ms. Alvarez, Chief Deputy in the State's Attorney's Office, is running for Cook County State's Attorney.  The event was very well attended, highlighting the interest U of C students have in public affairs.  Ms. Alvarez, the only woman and Hispanic to run for the office, shared stories about her experience in the public sector and on the campaign trail.  She also shared some insights into the fears she had going into public work, as well as the numerous benefits that come from serving your community.  While the financial gains in the private sector are appealing, Ms. Alvarez said, "there are great opportunities to give back."

Ms. Alvarez also spoke to the importance of having minority and female lawyers in public service.  Being only one of two Latinas in her law school class, she recalled how difficult it was starting out as an Assistant State's Attorney.  What kept her going was the fact that "you can always do better," and that there is "always room for change."

What left the greatest impression on me was how engaged and interested my peers were in what Ms. Alvarez had to say.  Hearing the questions they asked -- some wondering her thoughts on how to improve the judicial process in Cook County, others asking for her tips on how to balance life and career -- made me realize that reason why students come to U of C go far beyond just getting a job.  For many it is the passion to use their law degree to make their community better.  Ms. Alvarez put into words the very thing that seems to drive many of the students at the Law School to want to give back to the public good:  an aspiration to "hear the community's voices and concerns" and "to be the voice for victims in courts."  You can't put a dollar amount on the value of a passion to change the world for the better.

The Law School is committed to supporting our current students and graduates who want to pursue careers in the public sector through such programs as the 1L Summer Public Interest Loan Program and the Hormel Public Interest Program.