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 29, 2004--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/
What is executive privilege? National security
adviser Condoleezza Rice will now give sworn public
testimony before the bipartisan commission investigating
the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United
States. Rice, who had met privately with the commission,
had initially refused to appear before the panel,
citing "executive privilege" and a precedent
that presidential advisers who have not been confirmed
by the U.S. Senate could not give public testimony.
President Bush and vice president Dick Cheney will
meet privately in a separate session with the full
commission. Chicago-Kent dean Harold
J. Krent is available to discuss executive
privilege.
The Massachusetts Legislature voted this week to
ban gay marriage and establish civil unions. The
legislature approved a proposed constitutional amendment
that would reverse the Supreme Judicial Court's ruling
that legalized same-sex marriage in the state. The
court's decision will go into effect May 17. However,
Gov. Mitt Romney said he would ask the court to block
gay couples from marrying until voters can vote on
the amendment in November of 2006. Adjunct professor
Vincent Samar teaches courses on sexual orientation
and the law. He is available to discuss the legal
differences between gay marriages and civil unions.
What do designer Betsey Johnson, Amazon.com's Jeff
Bezos and rap impresario Russell Simmons have
in common? They are among Inc. Magazine's "25
Entrepreneurs We Love." What sets successful
entrepreneurs apart? Stuart Graduate School of Business
professor George
Kalidonis can tell you. Kalidonis is the Coleman
Clinical Professor of Management and academic director
of Stuart's Entrepreneurship MBA program.
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao hoped to have the new
overtime pay rules finalized by the end of March.
However, the legal maneuvering continues. A corporate
tax bill was delayed last week in the Senate by opponents
of the administration's proposals to change the 1938
law governing overtime pay for white-collar workers.
Unions oppose the plan because it will substantially
reduce the number of employees eligible to receive
overtime pay. The actual number of employees who would
be affected is also in dispute. Government estimates
place the number at nearly 700,000, while the unions
place that number closer to eight million. Professor
Martin H. Malin,
director of Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the
Workplace, is available to discuss overtime rules.
Brown v. Board of Education. This year
marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme
Court case that ultimately outlawed public school
segregation. Experts are available to discuss the
legal impact of the Brown v. Board of Education
decision.
"If there is such a thing as a national metaphor,
it may be baseball, a century-old mirror that
reflects the robust soul of our great American adventure,"
says adjunct professor and sports attorney Eldon
L. Ham. Professor Ham, the author of Larceny
and Old Leather: The Mischievous Legacy of Major League
Baseball, is available to discuss baseball seasons
past.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and IIT's
Center for Financial Markets are offering two certificate
programs in market technology to the general public.
Electronic Trading and Discovering New Markets are
72-hour programs taught by instructors from the CME
and the Center for Financial Markets at the Mercantile
Exchange's new GLOBEX Learning Center in Chicago.
GLOBEX, the world's first training facility dedicated
solely to electronic trading, is designed to help
current open outcry traders make the transition to
electronic trading through a comprehensive program
that includes simulated trading stations, education,
training and support. Professor David Norman, director
of market technology at the Center for Financial Markets,
is available for interviews about the courses. Professor
Norman is the author of Trading
at the Speed of Light and Professional Electronic
Trading.
Electronic tax filing. The Illinois Department
of Revenue is encouraging state taxpayers who have
previously filed their state income taxes via the
Internet or computerized tax programs to do so this
year as well. Approximately 800,000 residents filed
electronically last year, and officials estimate the
state can save about $1 on each return. Meanwhile,
an IRS plan to track those who file federal returns
electronically has come under fire. The IRS says it
is monitoring those who use its free electronic filing
program to measure its effectiveness. However, opponents
cite privacy concerns. Experts are available to discuss
privacy issues.
Chicago-Kent's Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic is
seeking taxpayers who have disputes with the IRS.
Those who meet certain income criteria may qualify
for 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. The program Web site at www.kentlaw.edu/academics/clinic/tax
has information about the program, and Professor Decatorsmith
is available for interviews. He is available for interviews
about the program, but is unable to answer media queries
for current tax filing stories.
May 10 is the deadline for American law students
interested in applying for Chicago-Kent's
summer abroad program in Mexico with Tec de Monterrey,
one of Mexico's leading private universities. The
program, which runs from June 14 through July 28,
2004, will give U.S. law students an opportunity to
study Mexican law and U.S./Mexican legal issues. May
10 is the deadline for applications, which are available
on the program's Web site at www.kentlaw.edu/glpi/mexico.
At the Downtown Campus:
April 16-17: "Final Status for Kosovo: Untying
the Gordian Knot." Distinguished academics
and policymakers will gather at this two-day program
to explore legal and policy issues that should shape
Kosovo's movement from its current status as a "political
trusteeship" under the authority of the United
Nations to a political status in which the entity
has more conventional relationships with the international
community and states in the region. The symposium
is designed to provide intellectual and policy capital
for discussions that already have begun at the technical
level and which are expected to continue during the
final status negotiations mandated by U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1244, which authorized U.N. intervention
in Kosovo. For more information, call (312) 906-5128
or visit the Web site http://operationkosovo.kentlaw.edu/symposium/symp-top-level.htm.
April 20: 26th annual Kenneth M. Piper Lecture.
Professor Catherine L. Fisk of the University of Southern
California Law School will address the topic, "Knowledge
Workers in the New Economy: From Cliché to
Contract." Presenters include: Greg W. Castle,
president, Castle and Associates and Julia A. Clark,
general counsel, International Federation of Professional
and Technical Engineers, AFL-CIO & CLC. 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 26: "How Big is Beautiful? The European
Union at 25+: Will it Work?" is the topic
of presentation by Austrian Consul General and constitutional
scholar Elisabeth Kehrer. She will discuss
the expansion of the European Union to 25-member states
scheduled for May 1, 2004. For more information, please
call (312) 906-5134.
April 29-30: 23rd annual Federal Tax Institute.
IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson will be the Tax Institute's
luncheon speaker on April 29. The two-day program
will review recent developments in case law and rulings
in the federal income, estate and gift tax areas;
mergers and acquisitions; partnerships; and executive
compensation issues. For more information, call (312)
906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle/fedtax/
on the Web.
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