Curriculum

Two John Marshall Law School faculty members, Judith W. Munson and Michael P. Seng, have urged officials of the Czech Republic to prepare for the possibility that an outbreak of influenza in the European Union could be disastrous.

The two attorneys met with the Czech Bar Association in Prague on March 9 for an inaugural workshop of the International Collaborative for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. Each had been in the country teaching courses at Masaryk University in Brno.

Munson, an adjunct professor who is executive director of the collaborative, described its knowledge-sharing goal of partnering medical, legal and public health practitioners and students in discussions on the prevention of and response to health crises such as flu and salmonella.

Czech health ministry officials agreed that it's not a matter of if, but when, that a serious pandemic could infect three million residents and kill as many as 12,000.

“I don't think we are at all prepared to deal with anything major,” said Prof. Seng.

He pointed out the country's central Europe location as particularly vulnerable to a flu virus or other illness that international travelers might spread quickly across borders.

Munson and Seng organized the trans-Atlantic collaborative last year, and obtained participation at the first workshop by the World Health Organization, the EU's European Centre for Disease Control and other concerned organizations.

The Czech delegate to the ECDC in Stockholm identified health as the union's weakest point and urged rectifying substandard decision-making processes, unclear mandates and confusing laws so authorities can respond effectively to emergencies.

Judith Munson augments her involvement in the worldwide health preparedness community by teaching a class at John Marshall on “Public Health Emergency Law: Domestic and International.”

Technology has been harnessed to create trans-Atlantic learning experiences, such as a recent interactive session with academicians from Prague and Iowa City. Global Campus software was provided free of charge by the World Health Organization.

The participants were Ondrej Dostal, director of the Center for Medical Law at Charles University 3rd Faculty of Medicine, and Corinne Peek-Asa, a professor at the University of Iowa. They were able see and hear each other's presentations, along with the class at John Marshall.

Dostal discussed legal preparedness and its impact on health care workers, and Peek-Asa covered the role of public health in earthquake disasters.

The educational initiative is a consultancy between the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois-Chicago and Charles University in Prague. Faculty and student exchanges and internships are contemplated.

Munson hopes to obtain funding for establishment of the first International Fellows Team at the UIC Public Health Leadership Institute. It would provide yearlong, team-based learning experiences for working professionals.

The Loyola University School of Law will hold a baccalaureate mass at 11 a.m. Saturday, May 19, in the Mundelein Center. Commencement ceremonies will follow at 1 p.m. in the Joseph J. Gentile Center with speech by Dan K. Webb of Winston & Strawn.

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Samuel K. Skinner, former U.S. attorney and Secretary of Transportation, will speak during the DePaul University College of Law graduation ceremony at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 20, in the Civic Opera House, Chicago.

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Justice Anne M. Burke will speak during the Chicago-Kent College of Law commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 20, in the Arie Crown Theater at McCormick Place.

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Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page will speak during the 183rd commencement ceremony of The John Marshall Law School at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 20, at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel.

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Nancy Rogers, president of the Association of American Law Schools and dean of the Ohio State University College of Law, will speak Saturday, May 26, during commencement ceremonies of the Northern Illinois University College of Law at 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center in DeKalb.

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University of Chicago Law Prof. Richard A. Epstein will speak during the law school hooding ceremony at 11:30 a.m. Friday, June 8, in Rockefeller Chapel. It will be preceded at 9:30 a.m. by the graduation ceremony in Harper Quadrangle.

A team from The John Marshall Law School has won the 2007 Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition, conducted March 22 to 25 in Atlanta by the National Black Law Students Association (see photo).

Students Marques Rice and Alfred Murray II took first place. Rice also was named Best Oralist, and Murray received an honorable mention. The team was coached by Cook County assistant state's attorney Joselynne Gardner McCoy, a 2006 graduate.

A second John Marshall team, Chiante Gibson and Damon Stewart, also advanced to the Frederick Douglass competition finals.

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The Chicago-Kent College of Law team of Joshua Jones and Keya Rajput won the 32nd annual National Trial Competition held March 29 to 31 in Houston. Rajput received the Best Advocate Award.

The team was coached by Appellate Justice Warren D. Wolfson, David A. Erickson, Margaret Firnstein, Nicholas A. Caputo and Danielle Kays. The American College of Trial Lawyers and Texas Young Lawyers Association sponsored the competition.

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The John Marshall Law School team of Anselmo Duran and Abraham Sandoval placed second in the 12th annual Hispanic National Moot Court Competition, held March 23-24 in Minneapolis.

They also won Outstanding Written Advocacy Best Brief for Respondent honors. Their coach was clinical professor Damian Ortiz.

The JMLS team of Dan Padernacht and Curtis Vosti placed second in the American Bar Association National Negotiation Competition in February in Miami. The coaches were Dawn Bode and Susann MacLachlan.

Daniel O. Bernstine will become president and chief executive officer of the Law School Admission Council on July 1. He succeeds Philip Shelton, who will retire in June after 14 years.

Bernstine was dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School from 1990 to 1997, and he has been general counsel of Howard University and interim dean of its law school.

A graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, he has a graduate law degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Prof Ralph Ruebner of The John Marshall Law School has been 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.

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Michael K. Demetrio of Corboy & Demetrio, Chicago, has been appointed an adjunct professor at The John Marshall Law School, where he teaches a course on federal rules of evidence. He is a past president of the Chicago Bar Association.

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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.

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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.