Associate Dean Kathryn Kennedy (left) presents Clinical Professor Susann MacLachlan with the Leadership and Dedicated Pro Bono Service Award.
The John Marshall Law School presented Clinical Professor Susann “Sunny” MacLachlan with the Leadership and Dedicated Pro Bono Service Award at the June 3, 2012, commencement for her outstanding work as director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, and her pro bono work on behalf of animal rights and welfare.
A 1994 cum laude graduate of The John Marshall Law School, Professor MacLachlan had a successful eight-year career as an assistant corporation counsel working in the Municipal Prosecutions Division of the City of Chicago Law Department. She was promoted to senior trial supervisor for the mayor’s License Commission and became increasingly involved in client counseling activities, trial training activities for junior attorneys and law schools, and the development of trial and negotiation strategies.
Professor MacLachlan joined the John Marshall staff in 2002 as associate director of the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution. She worked at improving and strengthening the externship programs to include circuit, appellate, Illinois Supreme Court and federal court placements, as well as corporate, government and law firm experience.
Under her direction, the Center developed a 1L Mock Trial competition and expanded the number of law school competitions open to students interested in trial and negotiation work. When a John Marshall team was invited to the Animal Advocacy Closing Argument Competition at Harvard Law School in 2008, Professor MacLachlan coached the team to a first place win. In the following three years, John Marshall teams in the competition brought home four more first place wins, including a double first place win when John Marshall students tied each other in the 2009 final round.
Professor MacLachlan worked with the faculty to develop JD certificate programs in both Trial Advocacy and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in 2009. When she was named director of the Center in spring 2010, she began developing an LLM degree curriculum in Trial Advocacy and Dispute Resolution which was approved by the faculty and acquiesced by the American Bar Association. She helped establish John Marshall’s partnership with the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, for a cross-cultural learning exchange offered as part of the Transnational Legal Negotiation course.
Since 2005 she has been teaching Animal Law, sharing her insights on this newest area of law. “I’m hoping for it to change our collective consciousness—to move people more toward compassion and care when dealing with the environment and the animals that populate it,” she said. She serves as the faculty advisor for the Animal Law Society, the Law Enforcement Students Organization, the American Association of Justice student organization and the ADR Society.
Professor MacLachlan is a Board member of Animal Legal Defense Fund, a national animal welfare organization. A devoted animal protection advocate, she volunteers her time and legal skills to animal rescues and works to raise awareness of the horrors of factory farming, puppy mills and the need to adopt companion animals from animal shelters and rescues.