For more information,
please contact:
Gwen Osborne,
director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS AND ASSIGNMENT,
LEGAL, PLANNING, BUSINESS, AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO-- March 24, 2003--Chicago-Kent
College of Law, the Stuart Graduate School of Business
and the Center for Law and Financial Markets have
experts available to discuss current 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/
The war with Iraq continues. Chicago-Kent dean
Harold J. Krent
and professors Bartram
S. Brown, Henry
H. Perritt, Jr., and Michael
I. Spak are available to discuss constitutional,
human rights, military, and international law issues
related to the conflict with Iraq.
The cost of war. The Bush administration has
estimated that the war with Iraq will cost between
$70 and $80 billion. The projection includes the armed
confrontation with Iraq, increased homeland security,
humanitarian aid and reconstruction. Meanwhile, last
week's rally by the Dow Jones and Standard & Poor's
500 indices ended Monday amid investor concerns about
prolonged fighting in Iraq. Professor Howard Simons of IIT's Center for Law and Financial
Markets is available for interviews about the impact
the war could have on the U.S. economy.
The spoils of war. "The postwar reconstruction
of Iraq will take more effort than the rebuilding
of the European states and the Japanese economy after
World War II," says Elizier
Geisler, professor and associate dean for
research at Stuart Graduate School of Business. Firms
that specialize in heavy machinery to build roads
and bridges, utility and telecommunications companies,
and agribusinesses are among those who would reap
benefits at the end of a war with Iraq. Professor
Geisler is available for interviews.
The Supreme Court this week will hear oral arguments
in a Texas gay couple's challenge to that state's
ban on homosexual sodomy. The two men bringing suit
argue that the enforcement of the Homosexual Conduct
Law in Texas violates their right to privacy and their
constitutional right to equal treatment by the state
because it penalizes certain private sex acts when
they are committed by same-sex couples, but not by
heterosexuals. The Justices will reconsider whether
states may criminalize private consensual sexual conduct
between members of the same sex. In 1986, the Court
upheld Georgia's penalties under its sodomy statute.
Professor Christopher
Leslie is the author of the law review article
Procedural Rules or Procedural Pretexts?: A Case
Study of Procedural Hurdles in Constitutional Challenges
to the Texas Sodomy Law. He is available for interviews.
Affirmative Action: The U.S. Supreme Court will
hear oral arguments April 1 on two cases challenging
the constitutionality of the University of Michigan's
use of affirmative action in both law school and undergraduate
admissions. Constitutional scholars professors Sheldon
Nahmod, Harold
Krent and Howard
Eglit are available for comment.
Online bettors looking to wager on the NCAA tournament
may lose more than money. "In Illinois and
many other states such wagers are against the law.
But online gamblers can also leave themselves open
to identity fraud and credit card theft by unscrupulous
sites," says Dean Harold
J. Krent. He is available to talk about the
dangers of online gambling.
Do employers discriminate against workers on the
basis of their parental status? "Employees
with parental responsibilities face enormous challenges
trying to balance the demands of child care with the
pressures of work," says professor Peggie
R. Smith of Chicago-Kent College of Law's
Institute for Law and the Workplace. To increase productivity
and to help parents balance the demands between work
and family, lawmakers have pursued various strategies,
including prohibiting employment discrimination against
individuals based on their parental status. Smith,
who has examined the pros and cons of these proposals
in an article in the University
of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, is available
for interviews.
"While most investors are worried about the
stock market's three-year decline, other investors
are making money even as stock prices fall,"
says Professor Keith Black of IIT's Center for Law and Financial
Markets. Investments in hedge funds now total about
$560 billion, up 75 percent from 1999. Professor Black
can discuss why investors are attracted to hedge funds
in this market environment, strategies hedge funds
use to make money in up and down markets, and how
the growth in hedge fund investments affects the stock
and bond markets.
Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Belcher died last
month of complications from heat stroke. After
an autopsy revealed that Belcher, 23, had been taking
weight-loss pills containing ephedra, public outcry
for a ban on steroids increased. Eldon L. Ham,
a sports attorney and adjunct professor at Chicago-Kent
says, "The disturbing hypocrisy of Major League
Baseball's reluctance to fully test for steroid-based
drugs is a march of self-destructive legal folly that
could dwarf Commissioner Ueberroth's billion-dollar
collusion blunder of the 1980s." Professor Ham,
the author of The 100 Greatest
Sports Blunders of All Time, is available for
interviews about Major League Baseball's new steroid
policy.
Cook County residents with domestic relations disputes,
including legal separation, divorce, child support,
child custody, visitation and guardianships, may qualify
for representation through Chicago-Kent's Family Law
Clinic. Clients will pay on a sliding scale fee basis,
depending on their financial circumstances. Students
will work under the supervision of Professor Ira
Feldman. He is available for interviews about
the program.
Taxpayers who have disputes with the IRS may qualify
for assistance through Chicago-Kent's Low-Income
Taxpayer Clinic. Those who meet certain income criteria
may receive free assistance with their tax disputes,
including collection matters, audits, appeals and
litigation before the Internal Revenue Service, United
States Tax Court, and United States District Court.
Students work under the supervision of Professor Jonathan
Decatorsmith. He is available for interviews
about the program, but is unable to answer media queries
for current tax filing stories.
On the Downtown Campus:
March 27: "News from the Copyright Office:
A Dialogue with the Register" is a program
sponsored by Chicago-Kent's Program in Intellectual
Property Law and the Intellectual Property Law Society.
Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, U.S.
Copyright Office, will speak on a variety of current
topics. Her remarks will be followed by a question-and-answer
session and a reception. The program will be held
from 5:15 to 7 p.m. in Room 590. For more information,
call (312) 906-5138.
March 27-28: 20th 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/
on the Web.
March 31: Madrid Protocol Preview. The inaugural
program of the Chicago Intellectual Property Alliance
will examine the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's
new proposed rules for implementing the Madrid Protocol.
The program will explore how the Madrid Protocol will
substantially change trademark management and trademark
practice in the United States. Presenters from the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office include Anne H. Chasser,
Commissioner for Trademarks; Robert M. Anderson, Deputy
Commissioner for Trademark Operations; and Lynne G.
Beresford, Deputy Commissioner for Trademark Examination
Policy. The program will be held at Chicago-Kent from
Noon to 6 p.m. For more information, call (312)906-5090
or visit www.chicagoipalliance.com
on the Web.
April 8: 25th annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture. Maria
O'Brien Hylton, professor of law at Boston University
School of Law, will address the topic, "The Case
for Sweeping Reforms of Employee Benefits: What We
Should Demand of Employees, Union and Government."
Other presenters include James D. English,
secretary-treasurer, United Steelworkers of America,
AFL-CIO, CLC; David R. Levin, partner, Wiley
Rein & Fielding; and Mary Ellen Signorille,
senior staff attorney, AARP Foundation. The lecture
series presents major programs in labor law in memory
of Kenneth M. Piper, a distinguished executive with
Motorola, Inc. and Bausch & Lomb, Inc. The program
is free and open to the public. For more information,
call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/piper/
on the Web.
April 9: "Best Employers, Best Results: Global
Survey Findings," is the topic of a presentation
by Arturo Fisher. Mr. Fisher, a principal and
lead consultant with Hewitt Associates, specializes
in human resources strategy for key multinational
corporations. The program, which is part of Stuart
Graduate School of Business' Leadership Forum will
begin at 5 p.m. For more information, call (312) 906-6573.
May 1-2: 22nd annual Federal Tax Institute. Larry
R. Langdon, commissioner of the Internal Revenue
Service's Large and Mid-Size Business Division, will
be the Tax Institute's luncheon speaker on May 1.
The two-day program will review recent developments
in case law and rulings in the federal income, estate,
gift and employee benefits tax areas; partnerships;
and international tax issues. One timely session will
explore "Executive Compensation in a Post-Enron,
Tyco, WorldCom, and Sarbanes-Oxley World." For
more information, call (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/fedtax/
on the Web.
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