For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS AND ASSIGNMENT, LEGAL, BOOK, BUSINESS, PLANNING, SPORTS, EDUCATION, CITY DESK, FEATURES AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO–September 24, 2007–Chicago-Kent College of Law and Stuart School of Business have experts available to discuss current issues. To reach any of our experts, call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, at (312) 906-5251. Press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
United Auto Workers began picketing General Motors plants around the country Monday after contract talks covering hourly workers broke off. The union and the automaker had been trying to reach an agreement since July and extended negotiations beyond the September 14 expiration of the contract. It is the union’s first strike against GM in nearly a decade. General Motors, which has eliminated more than 150,000 jobs in the past two years, is looking to cut costs to remain competitive. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union struck GM because of the company’s failure “to recognize and appreciate what our membership has contributed during the past four years.” Professor Martin H. Malin, director of Chicago-Kent’s Institute for Law and the Workplace and the author of Individual Rights Within the Union, is available for interviews.
This is Hispanic Heritage Month. Chicago-Kent experts are available to discuss a variety of legal issues related to the Hispanic experience in the United States, including English-only laws, immigration reform, education rights and employment discrimination.
Chicago-Kent has received significant funding for diabetes research and legal advocacy through a $5 million award deriving from the 2007 settlement of a consumer class action lawsuit challenging the effectiveness of the diabetes drug Rezulin. Invoking the legal doctrine of cy pres, the court directed that a portion of the funds remaining after all the claimants had been compensated be awarded to Illinois Institute of Technology to further its diabetes research. The law school will share the funding with the university’s department of biomedical engineering, which, together with the law school, runs the Center for Diabetes Research and Policy. On the legal front, a portion of the award will be used to provide pro bono legal representation to individuals or groups of individuals who are denied access to medical treatment for diabetes and diabetes-related illnesses. Such cases, based on a broad variety of fact patterns, most frequently arise against insurance companies, the Social Security Administration, schools, employers, detention centers and prisons where discrimination or lack of access to care or accommodations is alleged. Administrators and faculty are available for interviews.
The Harry Potter series ranks as the most challenged book series of the 21st century. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials. Banned Books Week, observed the last week in September, was established in 1982 to call attention to freedom of expression issues related to banned and challenged books in America. Chicago-Kent experts are available to discuss censorship issues and provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act that allow the government to gain information about materials accessed by library patrons.
U.S. Supreme Court. Constitutional scholar and Distinguished Professor Sheldon H. Nahmod is available for interviews about the Roberts Court, highlights of the Supreme Court's 2007-08 session and key issues the justices will consider during the new term, which begins October 1.
Chicago-Kent’s Immigration Law Clinic is seeking those who need legal assistance with immigration, asylum and nationality matters. The clinic is supervised by Professor Matthew I. Bernstein, whose practice includes advising corporations, nonprofit organizations and individuals in all areas of immigration law, including professionals; aliens of extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts and business; individuals seeking immigration benefits for family members; asylees; and individuals threatened with removal from the United States by the government. Professor Bernstein is available for interviews about the Immigration Law Clinic. He is also available to speak with organizations about immigration issues.
Downtown Campus Events:
October 10: "Immigration Adjudication Under Stress in the 7th Circuit" is the topic of a discussion by the Honorable Diane P. Wood, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The program, which begins at 3 p.m. is sponsored by the Chicago-Kent chapter of the American Constitution Society. For more information, please e-mail acs@kentlaw.edu.
October 19: Ralph M. Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, will deliver the opening plenary address, “The State of Public Agency Budgets and Its Impact on the Public Sector Workplace,” at Chicago-Kent’s 23rd annual Conference on Illinois Public Sector Labor Relations Law. Martire was a key member of the research team that produced the groundbreaking “State of Working Illinois” report which detailed industry, employment, wage and benefit trends in the state over the last 15 years. Concurrent workshops include “Ethical Issues in Negotiations,” “Top Five Mistakes Parties Make or How to Love Your Case,” “Garcetti: One Year Later,” “Hot Issues in the Education Sector” and a forum on issues related to police and firefighters. This one-day program is the major conference on public sector labor law in the state, drawing upwards of 500 lawyers and labor relations professionals each year. For more information, please call (312) 906-5090.
October 30: Joseph T. Hansen, international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, will deliver the 2007 Distinguished Labor Leader Lecture. Hansen has been active in efforts to confront the challenges of transnational corporations with global unionism. The lecture, which will begin at 1 p.m., is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Governor Richard B. Ogilvie Auditorium on IIT’s Downtown Campus. The Distinguished Labor Leader Lecture series is presented as a public service by Chicago-Kent’s Institute for Law and the Workplace and the Chicago Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. For more information, please contact (312) 906-5090 or visit www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle.
October 31: Georgetown University Law Center professor Peter Edelman will address the topic “From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half.” A member of the Georgetown faculty since 1982, Professor Edelman has served in all three branches of government. He has served in the Clinton administration in the Department of Health & Human Services, as a legislative assistant to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg and to Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Professor Edelman is chair of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission and currently is board president of the New Israel Fund. He is married to Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. The program, which begins at 3 p.m., will be held in the Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom. It is co-sponsored by Chicago-Kent’s Institute for Law and Humanities and the student chapter of the American Constitution Society. For more information, call (312) 906-5192.
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