Law Offices:
News & announcements for the week of
October 23, 2000

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APPLICATIONS FOR IN-HOUSE CLINICS - SPRING 2001 
ARE NOW AVAILABLE

Students who would like to learn how to practice law while they are in law school should apply for the in-house clinical education program, LAW OFFICES. Applications are now available for the Spring. The Spring applications are due no later than at 12:00 Noon, Friday, November 17, 2000.

Students may apply for Law Offices after they have completed the equivalent to their first year of law school (27 credits). To be considered for a place, ALL students must complete and return a completed Law Offices application. Applications will be available in the Law Offices beginning Monday, October 23, and they must be turned in to the Law Offices’ Receptionist in Suite 600 by 12:00 NOON on November 17, 2000.

Students who have previously taken or who are now taking Law Offices (continuing Law Offices students), and who submit their applications by the due date will be given preference in their same practice group if availability permits. Next, priority will be given to the top ten students on each first choice waiting list who did not turn down a place for Fall 2000, who were on the waiting list in the division they have marked as first choice, and who submitted their Spring application by the due date. New students who have submitted their applications by the due date will be selected in the Law Offices lottery.

There are seven in-house practice groups from which to choose – (1) employment discrimination/civil rights with some general practice, (2) criminal defense, (3) first defense legal aid (FDLA), (4) health law, (5) information technology & entrepreneurship (ITEC), (6) mediation & other ADR procedures, and (7) tax (prerequisites are Personal Income Tax and Tax Procedure).

In three of the in-house programs - employment discrimination/civil rights litigation with some general practice program, the criminal defense litigation program, and ADR program - students are given the option of enrolling for three or four credits.  Students who enroll for four credits put in a minimum of sixteen hours per week, and students who enroll for three credits put in a minimum of twelve hours per week during the fourteen-week semester.  In the health law, ITEC, and the tax litigation programs students enroll for three credits and put in a minimum of twelve hours per week. Students in FDLA enroll for two credits and put in a minimum of eight hours per week.

For more information, you may talk with the clinical professors who supervise the various practice groups:  Professors Gonzalez (room 629), Leader (625), and Norton (room 623) for employment discrimination/civil rights with some general practice; Professors Kling (room 625) and Thomas (room 609) for criminal defense; Professor Kraus (room 627) for health law; Professor Kentra (room 611) for mediation & other ADR procedures; Professor Williams (room 631) for ITEC; and Professor Decatorsmith (room 625) for tax. You may contact Professor Walz (FDLA) at (773) 292-9780.  Professor Laser (room 631) is also available to answer your questions.
 


LEGAL EXTERNSHIP PROGRAM
SPRING 2001 - THIRD YEAR STUDENTS ONLY:

Do you wish to develop your legal skills, gain practical legal experience in a specialized area of law with a corporation, firm or government agency, and make yourself more marketable to prospective employers upon graduation?  If so, consider applying to the Legal Externship Program for Spring 2001 Semester.

 The Legal Externship Program is a 4-credit hour non-graded program.  The program is open to students in their last two semesters of law school.  The student selects the area of law in which he/she wishes to extern.

 For the fieldwork component, an extern is placed in a private or public, civil or criminal practice and is required to work a minimum of 16 hours a week at his/her designated placement.  Externs interested in civil law may select to work under the supervision of general counsel in major corporations or under the supervision of designated teaching lawyers in well-known firms or specific government agencies.  Externs may specialize in such diverse legal areas as tax, commodities, securities, corporate, health care, medical malpractice, general corporate law, etc.  Those interested in criminal law may select to work with the States Attorney's Office, Public Defender's Office, or the U.S. Attorney's Office.  Many externships offer the externs opportunities to obtain a 711 license and appear in court. 

 Information about the program and an accompanying application form will be available in the Law Offices reception area and in the Careers Services office as of Monday, October 23, 2000.  Applications must be turned in to Room 612 by 12:00 P.M. on Friday, November 17th

 All applicants must have scheduled and completed an interview with Professor Gross prior to turning in their applications. 

 If you are interested in learning more about externship opportunities or in applying to the program, please see Professor Vivien Gross in Room 617.
 
 

JOB OPPORTUNITY - NEW ADVICE DESK POSITIONS

The Advice Desk program has immediate openings for law students to work with live clients in an exciting environment.  The Advice Desk is located at the Daley Center in Chicago.  In this program, senior law students interview, counsel, and advise clients, and draft pleadings and motions for indigent defendants being sued in Cook County.  Students work under the supervision of an experienced licensed attorney.  The Advice Desk, often referred to as  the "E.R. of Law," offers a unique opportunity to receive mentored, on the job training and to learn the workings of the Circuit Court of Cook County Municipal Division.  Students must be eligible for a 711 License, which requires that a student has completed 52 or more credit hours in law school.  Pay is $12.50 per hour, and we are seeking 20-40 hours of work per week.  Prior experience as an Advice Desk class student is preferred but not required.  We will provide all necessary training.  If interested, contact Professor Pamela A. Kentra at pkentra@kentlaw.edu .
 
 

A NEW CLINICAL PROGRAM -
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & ENTREPRENURSHIP CLINIC (ITEC)

Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Information Technology & Entrepreneurship Clinic (ITEC) fills two needs in the Chicagoland technology community. First, ITEC provides competent technology law services to small technology firms and local start-ups, at affordable rates through its unique fee generating model (hyperlink).  ITEC attorneys and students help these companies stay abreast of the rapidly evolving legal issues relevant to the technology entrepreneur. 

Second, and most importantly, ITEC provides Chicago-Kent law students with practical, hands-on experience working on cutting-edge legal issues, under the supervision of experienced technology attorneys.  These students will then travel into the Chicago legal market upon graduation, providing Chicago with technologically savvy lawyers to meet its developing technology law needs.

ITEC assists new ventures through the each stage of developing a start-up -- business organization; protection of intellectual property rights; transactional and contract drafting; and, current advice regarding evolving legal issues relevant to doing business on the Internet.  Students who intern in ITEC will assist in providing legal services to established IT companies and Internet start-ups.
 


A NEW CLINICAL PROGRAM - 
FIRST DEFENSE LEGAL AID

First Defense Legal Aid (FDLA), the only program of its kind in the country, fills the gap in Illinois’ public defender system by providing 24-hour free legal representation to adults and children in police custody or under police investigation.  FDLA provides a unique “frontline” criminal defense experience for students, enabling them to see: how evidence is collected and created; the tactics of the Chicago Police Department when trying to extract a confession or question witnesses; the role that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Felony Review Team plays during the beginning stages of a criminal investigation; and the utter vulnerability of children and adults when under intensive and sometimes abusive interrogation.  In addition to this stationhouse representation, DSLA also works toward the permanent improvement of our criminal justice system by educating the public, organizing community residents to combat police misconduct, by engaging in legislative and community advocacy, investigating patterns of misconduct by the Chicago Police, taking select criminal defense cases to trial, and initiating 42 U.S.C. §1983 litigation to improve the policies and procedures of the Chicago Police as they relate to the treatment of persons in police custody.

Students participating in the FDLA class must be eligible for a Illinois Supreme Court Rule 711 license.  Students representing FDLA clients at Chicago Police Stations will gain unique insight into the criminal justice system at its earliest stage and be able to:
 

1. View and Document Line-Ups, DNA testing, and Halt Lie Detector Tests.
2. Assert a Client’s 5th Amendment Right to Remain Silent and 6th Amendment Right to Counsel.
3. Gather Information from the Police on the Progress of the Investigation.
4. Document Police Brutality and other Misconduct.
5. Counsel Clients and Provide Information to their Families.
6. Interview Witnesses.
7. Demand a Client’s Immediate Release at the Police Station and in Court.
 
 

LAW OFFICES OF CHICAGO-KENT

The Law Offices of Chicago-Kent offers nine long-standing programs in live-client clinical legal education which accommodate over 150 students in the fall and spring semesters and over 50 students in the summer semester. 

For a complete description of all clinical programs, please visit the Law Offices Home Page at www.kentlaw.edu/academics/clinic
 
 
 
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