Office of the Dean:
News & announcements from Dean Perritt for the week of
October 26, 1998

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Illinois Commerce Commission Relationship

The Dean met with the Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, who expressed support for the idea of an ongoing relationship with IIT to explore the implications of regulatory reform in the electricity, telecommunications, and gas industries.

              

Judicial Ratings Available

One of the problems with judicial elections is the difficulty most voters have in obtaining information about judicial candidates.  I am pleased to announce that Cook County Court Watchers' Judicial Ratings Summary is available on our Web server at www.kentlaw.edu/legal_resources/cccw/. We are indebted to Court Watchers, to Dean Deutsch and to Susan O'Brien and John Young for making this civic information more widely available.
 

Dean Henry H. Perritt, Jr. 


Previous Announcements from Dean Perritt

Week of October 19, 1998

21st Annual Commodities and Derivatives Law Conference

The Twenty-first annual Chicago-Kent Commodities and Derivatives Law Conference was held this week at the Sheraton Hotel.  Under the direction of Ms. Gloria Mathews, the conference is part of the activities of the Center for the Study of Law and Financial Markets.  Several hundred people attended the two-day session.  Brooksley Born, Chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, spoke at the opening panel, and Senator Richard Lugar was the luncheon speaker.

NCAIR Grant

The National Center for Automated Information Research has given Chicago-Kent a major grant for a joint project with the National Center for State Courts entitled "The Justice Web Collaboratory," which will include a judge-link Web site, exploration of pro-se representation aided by the Web, and exploration of XML database formats. The project will proceed under the direction of Professor Ron Staudt.

Week of October 12, 1998

Update on Jacob Corre'

I am pleased to report that Professor Corre' was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, October 6 into the Rehabilitation Unit at 345 E. Superior, Room 418. 


New Graduation Date

The date of graduation has been changed from Saturday, May 22, 1999. The new date is Sunday, May 23, 1999, and will be held at the McCormick Place. Please change this date on your calendar. 

Week of October 5, 1998

Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences
Committee on Global Networks and Local Values

Dean Perritt participated in the second meeting of the National Academy of Sciences committee on Global Networks and Local Values, on which he is one of twelve members equally divided between Germany and the United States. 


Presentation to the Great Lakes Supreme Court Justices

Dean Perritt and Professor Staudt made a presentation to the Great Lakes supreme court justices on the impact of the Internet on law and judicial decision making. 


Jacob Corre's Condition

I'm pleased to report that Professor Corre's condition has improved greatly since my last update.  He has been moved out of the intensive care unit and is conscious, talking, and displaying more of his usual intelligence and wit.  His recovery will undoubtedly take some time, but we are all very encouraged about his progress.  Cards may be sent to: 
Jacob Corre' 
Northwestern Hospital 
Fourth Floor 
Passavant Pavilion 
303 East Superior 
Chicago, IL 60611 

Dean's Office Seeks Research Assistant

Dean Perritt's office is seeking a student for a Research Assistant position. Job responsibilities will be a mixture of special projects and general research and writing. If interested, please contact I.V. Ashton, Director of Institutional Projects and Executive Assistant to the Dean. 

Week of September 28, 1998

Meeting with Albanian Ambassador to the United States

Dean Perritt and Assistant Dean Rudnick met on Wednesday with the Albanian Ambassador to the United States who expressed appreciation and support for Operation Kosovo


Meeting with Counselor for Legal Affairs of
the Embassy of the People's Republic of China

Dean Perritt and Assistant Dean Rudnick met on Wednesday with the Counselor for Legal Affairs of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China to explain Chicago-Kent's China Bridge project. 

Week of September 21, 1998

Illinois Bar Association Award for Project Bosnia

The Illinois Bar Association will be awarding the Project Bosnia IPRO with the Access to Justice Award.  The award will be presented at a luncheon being held on November 19, 1998, at the Palmer House. 


Jacob Corre'

Jacob Corre' was hit by a bus while riding his bicycle late Tuesday afternoon.  He has head, shoulder, right arm, and rib injuries, and is in intensive care at Northwestern Hospital. 

I have been to the hospital and have seen Jacob briefly, and talked with his family.  His injuries are very serious and I know everyone in the Chicago-Kent community joins me in hoping that he recovers completely and quickly. 

The hospital has requested that you do not call for information.  Also, the hospital cannot accommodate flowers or packages in the intensive care unit.  The family can, however, receive cards and letters at: 

Corre Family 
Intensive Care Waiting Room, 7th Floor 
Northwestern Hospital 
Olson Pavilion 
710 North Fairbanks 
Chicago, IL 60611

Operation Kosovo Web Site

Chicago-Kent's Operation Kosovo gained international exposure and recognition this week through a CNN Interactive edition story about Kosovo's refugee crisis.  This CNN Internet site is viewed daily by millions of readers.  The CNN story included the Operation Kosovo site as one of six "related sites" on the subject.  Other related sites included the United Nations, and the International Red Cross. 

Week of September 14, 1998

Meeting with Vice President for Information Technology
at Northwestern University

Dean Henry H. Perritt, Jr. meet with Morteza R. Rahimi, Vice President for Information Technology, Patricia H. Todus, Associate Vice President, and Patricia Widmayer, Manager of Development and Executive Director of NSHEC, to understand the options for IIT connectivity to regional and national information network infrastructures and its implications for our distance learning initiatives. 

Meeting with Incoming President of
the Chicago Bar Association

Dean Henry H. Perritt, Jr. met with Kerry Peck, incoming President of the Chicago Bar Association.  They agreed to cooperate on distance learning, CLE, China rule of law, and elder law. 

Week of September 7, 1998

Chicago Tribune Coverage

An interview with Chicago-Kent Dean, Henry H. Perritt, Jr. appeared in the Chicago Tribune's Perspective Section on Sunday, August 30, 1998.  In the interview the Dean explained the genesis of Project Bosnia and described how students have worked toward reestablishing the rule of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  Dean Perritt also detailed ways in which students at Chicago-Kent and IIT are currently working in Kosovo to help provide legal relief to refugees. 


New Member of Chicago-Kent's Board of Overseers

Roberta R. Katz has joined the Chicago-Kent's Board of Overseers.  Ms. Katz is the Senior Vice President, Secretary, and General Counsel of Netscape Communications Corporation.  Prior to her employment at Netscape, she was the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of McCaw Cellular Communications, Inc. (now AT&T Wireless) and its subsidiary, LIN Broadcasting Corporation.  Ms. Katz also was a lawyer in private practice, specializing in corporate law.  She was a partner with the firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, resident in the firms' Seattle office.  Before becoming an attorney, Ms. Katz was a cultural anthropologist.  She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she specialized in issues of social and cultural change.  She received her bachelor's degree from Stanford University and her law degree from the University of Washington Law School. 

Please join me in welcoming Ms. Katz to Chicago-Kent's Board of Overseers. 


ISLAT/AFB Tour and Dinner

A recent report submitted to Congress by the National Academy of Sciences concluded that food-safety laws are outdated and that food-safety efforts are being hampered by the federal structure. 

Illinois Institute of Technology's National Center for Food Safety and Technology has been at the forefront of food safety issues and has pioneered new technology in the field. The Center works with academia, business and government to ensure the continued safety and quality of the nation's food supply. 

On September 1, IIT's Institute for Science, Law and Technology and its National Center for Food Safety and Technology presented, "A Taste of the Future," a demonstration and food tasting at the Center in Summit-Argo. Followed by a tour of the Center's laboratories and pilot plant to demonstrate food-safety measures, reporters and invited guests from the American Farm Bureau were invited to sample appetizers and entrees prepared using the latest high-tech processes to ensure safety. The menu included several entrees many Americans will serve at their Labor Day picnics: ice cream, potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw and sirloin steak. 

Week of August 31, 1998

David Gerber's Reception

Legal scholars from Chicago-Kent, University of Chicago, Northwestern University and DePaul University attended a reception August 26 honoring the publication of Professor David Gerber's new book, Law and Competition in Twentieth Century Europe. Published by Oxford University Press, this book is the first to portray comprehensively the development of antitrust law in Europe.  It also explains the current dynamics of competition law and assesses its relevance for European integration and the future of antitrust law. 


First Meeting of Project Bosnia IPRO

The first Project Bosnia IPRO meeting was held Friday, August 28 in the Dean's conference room. Dean Perritt, the instructor of the IPRO, met with IIT students from the main campus and the downtown campus to outline this fall's objectives. Project Bosnia will focus its efforts on three major fronts: 
  1. Students will work with the Ministry of Justice for the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to design and implement a Web-based database and legal network to support Bosnia's judicial structure.
  2. Students will continue efforts to implement Operation Kosovo.  This legal relief initiative seeks to use the Internet to provide legal assistance to the growing number of Kosovar refugees in Northern Albania as a result of the recent conflict between Serbia and Kosovo.
  3. Students will expand efforts to support the Bosnian refugee community in Chicago.
Enrollment for the Fall IPRO is still open and Dean Perritt welcomes any and all student involvement.  The next IPRO meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 4 in the Dean's conference room at the downtown campus, Suite 330. 


Discussions with Bosnia Refugee Group

On August 27, 1998, Charles Rudnick, Assistant Dean for International Law and Policy Development, Gary Laser, Director of Clinical Education, and I.V. Ashton, Director of Institutional Projects, met with Directors of Chicago's Bosnian Refugee Center to discuss possible areas of involvement for interested law students with the Center. 

Week of August 24, 1998

Two Faculty Members Visit China

Two Chicago-Kent College of Law faculty members, Professor A. Dan Tarlock and Associate Dean Harold Krent, traveled to Beijing, China last Thursday.  They will spend the week meeting with Chinese law school officials to lay groundwork for Chicago-Kent's "China-Bridge:  Middle Kingdom - Mid-America" program. 

Chicago-Kent, in conjunction with other branches of the Illinois Institute of Technology, is developing the "China Bridge" program to facilitate cooperation between the U.S. and Chinese legal education systems.  President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin during this year's U.S. - China summit meetings, have identified such cooperation as a priority. 

Currently, postgraduate legal education is almost non-existent in China. Most Chinese lawyers study law as an undergraduate major, and then go directly into practice.  Lawyers seeking a postgraduate law degree must spend at least three years studying outside of China. This time requirement prohibits most Chinese lawyers from undertaking postgraduate legal study. 

Chicago-Kent's "China Bridge: Middle Kingdom-Mid-America" program is designed to give Chinese lawyers the opportunity to earn a post-graduate law degree from Chicago-Kent with at least half of the instruction taking place in China via electronic distance learning.  For further information about the "China Bridge" program, please contact Randy Clarke (906-5235, rclarke@kentlaw.edu) in the International Law and Policy Development Office. 


ABA Jurisdiction Project

The Cyberspace Law Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Business Law has launched a multilateral effort to analyze jurisdictional problems that impact global electronic commerce.  The Business Law Section has approved funding to host the project through the year 2000 at Chicago-Kent College of Law of the Illinois Institute of Technology. 

The Project will be directed by Professor Margaret Stewart of Chicago-Kent in association with a joint steering committee of the Business Law Section.  The results of this exhaustive study are scheduled to be released during the Year 2000 Annual Meeting of ABA taking place in New York and London.  Background and contact information can be found at the Project's home page, www.kentlaw.edu/cyberlaw/


New Appointments in Student Services

Professor Michele Baker Richardson has agreed to become the Director of LINC (Learning in New Contexts).  LINC is intended to be a completely redesigned program to provide support focused on our "at-risk" students.  It will replace the Academic Support Program, while not being tied to its features. 

Chris Matheny has agreed to become Director of Students Services, succeeding Ellen Berger. Mr. Matheny will provide support for LINC as its requirements are determined by Professor Richardson. 

Week of August 17, 1998

I welcome you back to law school with a sense of excitement about the coming year. Chicago- Kent is known throughout Chicago, and indeed around the world, as being a law school ahead of the times. This means that momentum is important. We have momentum, ranging from our aggressiveness in exploring the intersections of science, law and technology through the Institute for Science, Law and Technology (ISLAT) led by Professor Lori Andrews, to our many international programs that began with a visit by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke last fall and culminated this summer with a program that brought to Chicago-Kent the Chinese Ambassador to the United States and the United States Secretary of Commerce. At the same time, our trial practice teams and moot court teams were successful in competitions around the country. Chicago-Kent law students, working with IIT undergraduate engineering students, have helped use technology to improve a rule of law in Bosnia and to ease the plight of refugees from Kosovo and Albania, demonstrating that individuals can make a difference in the world even while they still are in school. 

Our faculty continues to publish leading-edge thinking in areas ranging from the philosophy of law to the interpretation of supplemental jurisdiction in federal courts. Last month, three sections of the American Bar Association (business law, international law, and science and technology) selected Chicago-Kent as the home of a major new two-year project on Internet Jurisdiction. Professor Margaret Stewart will lead this effort as co-reporter. Professor Steve Harris is wrapping up his work as a reporter for a rewrite of Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code. Professor David Gerber published an important new book on the evolution of the legal framework for the European Union. 

We expect to build on this momentum in the coming year. With your active involvement, we will be working on telemedicine, electronic commerce, and genetic science in ISLAT. In the international field we will be building relationships in China, exploring immigration law, and helping to construct a rule of law in central and eastern Europe. Professor Kimberly Pace will continue to increase the visibility and professional linkages of our intellectual property program. Professor Marty Malin will continue to broaden the reach of his highly successful Institute for Law and the Workplace, which already creates exemplary externship opportunities for Chicago- Kent students interested in labor and employment law. 

You will get the most out of law school if a lively intellectual curiosity animates all of your law school experiences. At the same time, this is a professional school, and it is also appropriate for you to have a practical outlook. Part of your goal in preparing yourself to be an effective professional is to make sure you are well prepared for the bar examination -- the gateway from law school into the profession. I have appointed three new faculty committees to make sure we are doing the best possible job to help you understand the relationship between what goes on in the classroom and your future as an effective professional practitioner. We want you to understand how important the mastery of basic legal concepts and institutional arrangements is to success in practice. We also want to do a better job in helping you relate your summer and term-time employment to your education. 

You must be prepared for the law, business, and social environments as they will exist in the future; you want to be prepared for an entire career, and not just your first year or two after law school. That's why we will be teaching you about trends and major proposals for changing the law and building new political, legal, and economic frameworks. That's why we will expect you to use information technology, especially the Internet's World Wide Web, as a regular part of your law school experience -- it will be a regular part of your professional experience. 

Chicago-Kent provides an environment for you to obtain a rich professional education -- one aimed at equipping you to be an effective lawyer and leader in the professional environment as it will exist in the 21st century. 

We value the opportunity to work with you toward these goals. 



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