Curriculum

Prof. Charles J. Tabb of the University of Illinois College of Law begins an appointment as interim dean on Aug. 16. He succeeds Heidi M. Hurd, dean for five years, who returned to the teaching faculty earlier this year.

Tabb has taught at the law school since 1984, after practicing bankruptcy and commercial law in Dallas, and was associate dean for academic affairs from 2003 to 2005.

A former member of the advisory committee on the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure of the U.S. Judicial Conference and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, he is the author of three books on bankruptcy law.

A graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, Tabb is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy.

Law Prof. Ralph Brubaker will continue to serve as associate dean.

Douglas W. Lind became director of the Southern Illinois University Law Library and associate law professor on July 1 after 13 years with the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library at the Georgetown University Law Center.

A lawyer who has a master's degree in information and library studies from the University of Michigan, Lind headed the collections department at the Georgetown law library for the past six years.

The author of the 2006 book, “Bibliography of American Law Casebooks, 1870-2004,” Lind succeeds Frank G. Houdek, who is now associate dean for academic affairs at the SIU law school.

The library was founded by Roger F. Jacobs, who was its director from 1973 to 1978. Elizabeth Slusser Kelly headed it from 1978 to 1984, and Houdek took over in 1985.

Cherilyn G. Murer, a graduate of the Northern Illinois University College of Law, has been elected president of the university's board of trustees. She has served on the board since 2005.

Murer is president and chief executive officer of a health care consulting company based in Joliet. She chairs an NIU board subcommittee on development of proton therapy treatment and research.

“Balancing Liberty and Security in Times of Stress: Comparing Western Democracies' Approaches to Global Terror” is the topic of the Dean Fred Herzog Distinguished Visiting Scholar Lecture at The John Marshall Law School.

The free program will take place at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20. The speaker is Michel Rosenfeld, the Justice Sydney L. Robins Professor of Human Rights at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University.

The DePaul University College of Law will present alumni awards during a luncheon Thursday, Sept. 20, at the Palmer House Hilton, Chicago. For reservations at $50 per person, call (800) 437-1989.

DePaul law graduates will be honored for distinguished careers and achievements, and outstanding service to the profession and to the university.

June Hsiao Liebert will become director of the Louis L. Biro Library and an assistant professor at The John Marshall Law School in June. She has headed the Computer Information Center at the University of Texas Law School since 1998.

Christine Wiseman will join the Loyola University faculty on July 1 as provost. A law professor and vice president for academic affairs at Creighton University, she is a graduate of the Marquette University Law School.

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Professors Victor Fleischer and Miranda Perry, scholars of tax law at the University of Colorado School of Law will join the University of Illinois College of Law faculty in the fall.

Fleischer is a 1996 graduate of the Columbia University School of Law. Perry graduated in 1996 from the University of Chicago Law School and received an LL.M. at New York University in 2003. Both have been federal court law clerks.

The Illinois Board of Admissions to the Bar has reported that 2,837 candidates sat for the July 2007 examination, slightly fewer than the record 2,868 in 2006.

A total of 3,040 law graduates applied to take the exam, but 203 were absent – 7 percent compared to the usual 10 to 12 percent absenteeism.

Prof Ralph Ruebner of The John Marshall Law School was voted Professor of the Year by the 2007 graduating class. A faculty member since 1981, he teaches criminal procedure, evidence and international human rights.

Ruebner was director of the moot court program for 16 years and head of a criminal justice clinic for four years. He is a recipient of an Elmer Gertz Award from the ISBA Human Rights Section and Blind Services Association.

John Marshall awarded an honorary degree to Chicago Tribune editorial board member Clarence Page, who was guest speaker at the 183rd commencement ceremony on May 20.

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Prof. Ronald Staudt of the Chicago-Kent College of Law has received the inaugural Legal Services Corp. award for outstanding contributions to its Technology Initiative Grants program.

Staudt directs the law school's Center for Access to Justice, which emphasizes use of the Internet and builds Web-based tools for legal service advocates, pro bono volunteers and pro se litigants.

Chicago-Kent alumnus Roy C. Palmer and his wife, Susan M. Palmer, have established a $10,000 Roy C. Palmer Civil Liberties Prize for scholarship that explores the tension Between civil liberties and national security in contemporary society.

The Palmers, who live in Sarasota, last year pledged $1 million to the law school for expansion of its downtown campus. In 1997, they received an Outstanding Individual Philanthropist Award from the National Society of Fundraising Executives.

A Circle of Advocates has been former at the Loyola University School of Law to support its trial advocacy program and provide mentors. Co-chairs are Daniel M. Kotin of Corboy & Demetrio and Judge Virginia M. Kendall of U.S. District Court for the Northern District.