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For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251

CHICAGO-- February 7, 2000 --Chicago-Kent College of Law has experts available to discuss current legal issues. To reach any of our experts, call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, at (312) 906-5251. Copies of press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: http://www.kentlaw.edu/news/

Civility in the legal profession. Hon. Timothy C. Evans, presiding judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County Domestic Relations Division, will discuss "Civility in the Profession" Wednesday at Chicago- Kent's sixth annual Professionalism Day program. In 1995, Chicago-Kent was the first law school in the country to incorporate a professionalism program into its curriculum. The program was developed with input from faculty, students and practicing attorneys to encourage students to develop an approach to the practice of law and to the workplace that reflects professional excellence. Chicago-Kent's program won the ABA's 1997 E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Award, given to projects that increase the understanding of professionalism among lawyers. (See below.)

Chinese lawyers, judges and law students will study the American legal system as a result of a grant to Chicago-Kent from the U.S. China Legal Cooperation Fund. Chicago-Kent will create an Internet-based distance learning seminar that will be conducted as a partnership between the law school and Tsinghua University School of Law in China. The course is designed to facilitate China's integration into the world economy and foster development of the rule of law by educating Chinese legal professionals in basic concepts of the American legal system. Dean Henry H. Perritt, Jr., is available for interviews about this project and other distance learning programs at Chicago-Kent.

February is Black History Month. Robert Abbott, the son of former slaves, graduated in 1899 from what is now Chicago-Kent College of Law. In 1905, he established the Chicago Defender. In addition to its local circulation, the newspaper was distributed in the South by a network of Pullman porters and newsboys who risked being lynched for their actions. The Defender became a leading national voice in the struggle for racial equality. The paper's stories and editorials have been credited as the catalyst for "The Great Migration," the mass movement of more than two million African Americans from the rural South to urban areas in the North. Abbott died in 1940.

February 9: "Strategies for Excellence: Law as a Profession" is the theme of Chicago-Kent's sixth annual Professionalism Day Program. Hon. Timothy C. Evans, presiding judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County Domestic Relations Division, will discuss "Civility in the Profession." "His Trials, My Tribulations: Life as a First-Year Lawyer," is the topic of a dialogue by Chicago attorneys Terrence J. Lavin and Philip Corboy. Keynote speaker Verna Myers of Verna Myers & Associates will talk about "Diversity in the Profession." Other participants include: Stephen D. Sowle, assistant dean for academic administration and student affairs; Carolyn Thomas, Office of the Public Guardian of Cook County; Vanessa J. Weathersby, human resource relationship manager, Bank of Montreal/Harris Bank; attorneys Daniel J. Voelker and Charlotte Wager; and Chicago-Kent Dean Henry H. Perritt, Jr. The program is not open to the public, but participants are available for interviews.

February 11: International Humanitarian Law symposium. Chicago-Kent College of Law and the American Red Cross will cosponsor a program to inform the public about their rights under the Geneva Conventions during armed conflicts abroad. Speakers from the American Red Cross' International Services department include international humanitarian law officer Michael Hoffman, and outreach and training associate Laurie Fisher. For more information call (312) 906-5005 or visit www.redcross.org/il/chicago/ on the Web.

February 18: "Ten Years of Freedom: The Rule of Law and the Free Market Economy in Poland." Leading Polish government officials, scholars and policymakers will participate in this day-long conference. Speakers will discuss the country's transformation from a planned economy to a free-market economy. Topics include: "From Communism to Freedom and the Rule of Law," "Legal Demands of the Free Market Economy," and the "American Bar Association's Experience and Initiatives in Poland." For more information, call (312) 906-5340 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/amstudies/ on the Web.

March 2: "The Labor Movement and Our Children's Future" is the topic of the second annual Distinguished Labor Leader Lecture sponsored by Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the Workplace. Sandra Feldman, president of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, will deliver the lecture. The program, which is free and open to the public, will begin at noon in the Richard B. Ogilvie Auditorium. For more information, call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/laborleader/ on the Web.

March 16-17: 17th annual conference on Section 1983 Civil Rights Litigation. This two-day seminar provides a comprehensive update, presented by leading practitioners and legal scholars, on liability arising out of Section 1983 and other civil rights statutes. Police misconduct litigation, sexual harassment, municipal liability, land use regulation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and recent cases before the U.S. Supreme Court are among the topics to be explored. For more information, call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/sect1983/ on the Web.

March 20: Patrick Glenn, Peter M. Laing Professor of Law, McGill University in Quebec, will deliver the 12th annual Henry Morris Lecture in International and Comparative Law. Professor Glenn will address the topic "Conflicting Laws in a Common Market: The NAFTA Experiment." The program is free and open to the public. For more information, call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/morris/ on the Web.

March 31: "In Praise of Field and Stream: The Symbolic Uses of Gun Control" is the topic of a discussion sponsored by Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the Humanities. Speakers include Prof. David C. Williams, Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington; Prof. Sanford Levinson, New York University School of Law; and Prof. Glenn Harlan Reynolds, University of Tennessee College of Law. The program is free and open to the public.