For more information, please contact:
Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251
ADVISORY TO PRODUCERS, COLUMNISTS, AND ASSIGNMENT, LEGAL, BUSINESS, FOOD, SPORTS, POLITICAL, PLANNING, CITY DESK, FEATURES AND DAYBOOK EDITORS
CHICAGO--November 9, 2009--Chicago-Kent College of Law and Stuart School of Business have experts available to discuss current issues. To reach experts on IIT's Downtown Campus, please call Gwen Osborne, director of public affairs, (312) 906-5251. Press releases and earlier advisories are available on our Web site: www.kentlaw.edu/news/advisory.
November 11 is Veterans Day. Professor Michael I. Spak, an expert on military law and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, is available for interviews about legal issues related to the military.
Keith Bardwell, a Louisiana justice of the peace who last month refused to marry an interracial couple, has been forced to resign. Bardwell, who served in Tangipahoa Parish's 8 Ward, refused to perform the ceremony and sign the marriage license, citing his "concern" for children born of interracial marriages. The couple were married by another justice of the peace and later filed a federal discrimination lawsuit against Bardwell. In 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State." Chicago-Kent experts are available for interviews about the Loving v. Virginia decision and the current controversy surrounding Bardwell's actions.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has asked Congress for federal legislation to help the league discipline players who violate its drug policy. Last year, Goodell attempted to suspend Pat Williams and Kevin Williams, two Minnesota Vikings players who tested positive for banned substances. The players successfully sued the league in Minnesota state court, claiming NFL drug policies violated state law. Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) supports Goodell's proposal, but Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) believes that the league and the players' association (which is against enactment of a federal law) should come to an agreement without congressional intervention. Chicago-Kent professor and legal historian Christopher W. Schmidt, who teaches courses in sports law, is available to discuss the history and legal implications of drug testing in sports. Also available is sports attorney and adjunct professor Eldon L. Ham, who in 1988 was one of the first attorneys to challenge and change the NFL drug policy in court in Richard Dent v. NFL. Professor Ham is available for interviews.
A federal judge recently dismissed a suit against Jessica Seinfeld, the wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, for copyright and trademark infringement. Missy Chase Lapine, the author of The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals, said Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food "unlawfully misappropriated" her book. However, the judge dismissed the case, calling the plaintiff's book "a dry, rather text-heavy work" and adding that the Seinfeld cookbook "has a completely different feel and appears to be directed to a different audience." Professor Christopher J. Buccafusco is the author of the law review article "On the Legal Consequences of Sauces: Should Thomas Keller's Recipes Be Per Se Copyrightable?" Professor Buccafusco is available for interviews.
November is Native American Heritage Month. Chicago-Kent has experts available for interviews about a number of legal issues related to the Native American experience. Professor Mark D. Rosen can discuss tribal courts and the Indian Civil Rights Act. Professor Sarah K. Harding can talk about the repatriation of Native American artifacts by cultural institutions and others. Professor A. Dan Tarlock can discuss the implications of U.S. v. Navajo Nation, a U.S. Supreme Court case decided earlier this year involving a dispute over how the U.S. government handled its fiduciary responsibilities to the Navajo Nation as related to royalties on coal leases.
At Chicago-Kent:
Jacqueline A. Leimer has been appointed a practitioner-in-residence at Chicago-Kent, where she will develop and direct a new M.S. program in intellectual property management and markets. Leimer most recently was vice president and associate general counsel for global intellectual property at the global headquarters of Kraft Foods, in Northfield, Ill.
At Chicago-Kent, Leimer will direct a unique, one-year M.S. program designed for the wide range of professionals who deal with intellectual property matters. The 30-credit program will be taught by faculty from Illinois Institute of Technology's schools of law, business, engineering, design, and computer science. The program is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2010.
At Kraft, Leimer had responsibility for the overall management of intellectual property legal issues worldwide from 2005 to 2009. She began her affiliation with Kraft in 1996 as chief trademark counsel. Prior to joining Kraft, Leimer was a partner at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago, concentrating in trademark, copyright and advertising law matters. She also has 10 years of in-house intellectual property experience with the Quaker Oats Company in Chicago.
Leimer was president of the International Trademark Association in 2004 and has served for many years as a director of that organization. Appointed by former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, she served from 2006 to 2009 on the Trademark Public Advisory Committee, which provides oversight of U.S. Patent and Trademark Office operations.
Leimer earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Valparaiso University. She graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law, where she was editor-in-chief of the Valparaiso University Law Review.
Downtown Campus Events:
November 13: George H. Cohen, director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, will deliver the keynote address at Chicago-Kent's 25th annual Illinois Public Sector Labor Relations Law Program. Martin H. Malin, Chicago-Kent professor and director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace, will serve as conference moderator. Other sessions include "Labor Relations in Hard Times: Organizing, RIFs, Furloughs & Benefit Restructuring," "The Role of Labor Relations in Chicago's Bid for the Olympics," and "Labor Relations and the Constitution." There will be a police and firefighter forum, and workshops on dealing with sexual harassment allegations and on state legislative issues. This continuing legal education conference is designed for lawyers whose practice involves labor law, local government law or school law. It is also for state and local government officials, public education officials, administrators and labor relations officers, union officials, business agents, uniserv directors, arbitrators and mediators. The one-day program is co-sponsored by Chicago-Kent's Institute for Law and the Workplace, the Illinois Labor Relations Board and the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. For more information and registration, call (312) 906-5090 or visit the Web site: http://www.kentlaw.edu/depts/cle. EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: The media is welcome to cover the keynote address. However, to maintain the quality of the educational experience for our registrants, there will be no media access to concurrent workshops and breakout sessions.
November 20: 2009 Chicago-Kent College of Law/Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize Lecture. University of Utah professor Scott M. Matheson, Jr., will discuss his 2009 prize-winning book, Presidential Constitutionalism in Perilous Times. The program, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Courtroom. Professor Matheson will speak from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A reception will be held immediately following the lecture. For more information or to R.S.V.P. for the lecture, please contact Tasha Kincade at (312) 906-5006 or tkincade@kentlaw.edu by November 17.
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