John Marshall to inaugurate online interactive courses

Three cyberspace-savvy faculty members at The John Marshall Law School will offer courses online in electronic formats during the spring and fall semesters this year.

Prof. Paul Wangerin will teach Commercial Transactions for J.D. students this spring, and Remedies for J.D. students in the fall.

Prof. Doris Long will teach Patents for Poets this spring for M.S. and LL.M. students in the intellectual property program who do not specialize in patents.

William McGrath, associate director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law, will teach the intellectual property course, "For Copyright Law and Practice," next fall in the LL.M. curriculum.

Dean John E. Corkery said, "these three great teacher are taking the lead in developing asynchronous online courses," hoped others would be inspired to follow. "The ultimate beneficiaries of their work will be our students."

Students in these classes will be able to receive full classroom lectures, including interactive student-teacher components, within limits set by the American Bar Association.

Wangerin, a faculty member for 25 years, began experimenting with alternatives to the traditional Socratic method more than a decade ago, when electronic technology began to be used in classrooms.

Ralph Ruebner, John Marshall's associate dean for academic affairs, said Wangerin "has taken traditional teaching to new heights" with innovative methods that place him at the forefront of legal education.

"This new generation of law students demands that legal education catch up with the ways people communicate daily outside the classroom setting," Ruebner said. "Professor Wangerin is starting that trend."

Long has converted power point, graphs and charts from her lectures into the new format. She has used online digital textbooks for six years as a tutor for the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Both professors will interact with students through online discussions in their classes that are open for all students to read and participate. They will use the real-time "chat" function available with the electronic software they use.

The ABA requires that online law classes have at least as much interaction as in traditional classes. It limits electronic participation to four credits per semester and 12 credits over a J.D. degree program.

Law school events

Future programs at the Loyola University School of Law include "Protection of the Rights of Tenants" on Monday, Feb. 18, with the Metropolitan Tenants Organization.

A Law Journal Conference on Friday, March 14, is on "Tax Law in a Liberal Democracy: Exploring the Relationship Between Tax and Good Governance."

For complete details, contact Elisabeth Brookover at ebrooko@luc.edu.

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Chicago attorney Gary T. Johnson, president of the Chicago History Museum, will lecture on "Chicago Lawyers in Chicago History" at the Chicago-Kent College of Law at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27.

The program is sponsored by the college's Institute for Law and the Humanities. Call Prof. Daniel Hamilton at (312) 906-5192 for information.

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A Black History Month program will be conducted from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, in the Max Rowe Auditorium of the University of Illinois College of Law.

Keynote speaker is alumnus Michael Strautmanis, chief counsel to U.S. Sen. Barack Obama. For details, contact Black Law Student Association President Keyonn Pope at kpope2@law.uiuc.edu.

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The John Marshall Law School Center for Intellectual Property Law will conduct its annual conference on developments in the practice from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 29. Call Michele Bridges, (312) 427-2737, ext. 581, for details.

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The Institute of Illinois Business Law will hold a reception at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 6, at the Chicago-Kent College of Law to announce its formal relationship with the law school and launch its Web site.

For details, contact Park Ridge attorney Linscott R. Hanson, a member of the ISBA Senior Lawyers Section Council, at hanson@dkehq.org.

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Josef Drexl, co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich, Germany, will speak at 12 noon Tuesday, March 11, at the Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Drexl will give the 18th annual Henry Morris Lecture in International and Comparative Law, "Consumer Welfare vs. Protecting the Competitive Process: An Atlantic Competition Law Divide?" Call (312) 906-5090.

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The Business and Commercial Law Journal of the DePaul University College of Law will conduct its sixth annual symposium from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, May 1, at the Westin Michigan Avenue Hotel.

Symposium content will view the law in terms of how it shapes attorneys' practices and careers, rather than the substantive law they deal with.

Topics include ethics of and alternatives to billable hours, conflict and liability issues resulting from attorney mobility, and malpractice that leads to disciplinary action.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Commercial Law League of America. For complete information, call Don Carillo at (312) 362-6178.

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Nina S. Appel, dean emerita of the Loyola University School of Law, received the school's Norman C. Amaker Award of Excellence on Jan. 23 during the annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

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George Washington University Law Prof. Jonathan Turley, guest speaker at the 182nd annual commencement of The John Marshall Law School on Jan. 27, received an honorary degree during the program.

A graduate of the Northwestern University Law School, Turley teaches public interest law at George Washington and is director of the Environmental Law Advocacy Center and founder of the Project for Older Prisoners.

Also receiving honorary degrees at commencement were Chicago attorney Philip J. Corboy, for his long career and philanthropy, and the late Francis Morrissey, who was a visiting professor for 12 years after retiring from Baker & McKenzie.

Moot court funded

A six-figure gift from retired appellate justice Frederick S. Green of Urbana has established an endowment in support of the Frederick Green Moot Court Competition at the University of Illinois College of Law.

Named for his father, Frederick Green Sr., a professor of constitutional law from 1904 to 1938, the college's oldest moot court program was established in his honor upon his retirement 70 years ago.

Faculty achievements

Three faculty members at the University of Illinois College of Law have received academic honors recently.

William J. Davey, the Guy Raymond Jones Chair, was the recipient of an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Berne in Switzerland during its 173rd Dies Academicus on Dec. 1.

He was honored for "fundamental work in the development and evolution of the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement system" that has resolved several trade conflicts.

Davey was WTO director of legal affairs from 1995 to 1999, and has taught international law and economics at Berne since 2001.

Thomas B. Ginsburg, director of the College of Law's program in Asian Law, Politics and Society, has received an Abe Fellowship from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership.

He will be in Korea, Taiwan and Japan this summer, doing research on "Legal Reform in Northeast Asia."

Jacqueline Ross is pursuing a 2007-08 Fulbright Scholar grant in France until June in her study of policing in immigrant communities. Italy, Germany and the United States will be included