As long as that standard is met, the nation’s high court has shown little interest in delving into the procedural rules of Congress, Schwinn said. Challengers will complain that the Senate “gutted it and changed the entire bill, but the Supreme Court doesn’t seem to care how the Senate amends legislation,” he said. “As a technical matter, it strikes me as a nonstarter,” Schwinn said.

Read more: Prof. Steven Schwinn Calls ACA Foes' Favorite New Weapon a 'Nonstarter'

Stevens, a resident of Lower Macungie, was selected for his achievements in the area of Medical Malpractice Defense.  As Chair of the Medical Malpractice Defense Group, he represents large hospitals and health networks as well as individual physicians in medical malpractice claims.  He is well versed in complex litigation cases involving medical treatment investigations, including, among other things, surgery, obstetrics, and emergency medicine.

Read more: Howard S. Stevens (JD '85) Named a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer

Mudd's cases will include criminal law, civil litigation and family law.

He received his law degree from John Marshall Law School and was selected to study international criminal and human rights law at the Universitat Luzern in Switzerland.

Read more: Andrew Mudd (JD '09) Joins Kesler, Nelson, Garman, Brougher & Townsley

Peter Brust will report to Cees Deelstra, vice president, nautical operations. As fleet security director, he is responsible for the security operations aboard Holland America Line’s fleet of 15 ships and Seabourn’s fleet of six ships, as well as all turnaround ports and the headquarters office in Seattle. Additionally, Brust ensures that both companies are in compliance with all security directives from governments and other regulatory agencies regarding terminal, ship, crew and passenger security practices and procedures.

Read more: Peter Brust (JD '85) Named of Fleet Security at Holland America

Steven Schwinn, a professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago, said the White House cave-in on the Benghazi documents could damage its credibility, but it would not necessarily undermine future legal claims by Obama to withhold materials. Courts are historically very reluctant to order such disclosures or enforce congressional subpoenas, he said.

Read more: Professor Steven Schwinn Comments on White House's Lost Battle Withholding Benghazi Records

Bryce, Downey & Lenkov LLC concentrates on commercial matters—both transactional and litigation—along with construction cases, general insurance defense litigation, intellectual property, employment, and workers' compensation defense.

Read more: Geoffrey Bryce (JD '81) Goes to New Heights

The U.S. Supreme Court's current term is shaping up as a significant one for the Fourth Amendment. And what's surprising is the court's renewed interest in the warrant clause.

Last month, I wrote about U.S. v. Jones, in which the court held during the last term that the government's installation of a GPS device on a car constituted a search requiring a warrant and probable cause under the Fourth Amendment.

Read more: Prof. Timothy O'Neill Examines High Court's New Interest in Fourth Amendment's Warrant Clause

John Marshall Law School Professors Ann Lousin and William McGrath received awards for their columns published in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. Lousin was honored by the Illinois State Historical Society, and McGrath was honored by the Chicago Headline Club with the Lisagor Award.

Read more: Two Professors at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago Honored for Their Columns on Public Issues, Copyright

While the law firm recently marked its first year, its veteran lawyers can boast deep roots in McHenry County. Militello and fellow partner Jeremy Shaw, along with the three other attorneys have a combined 94 years of legal practice.

“We’ve been in the community a long time even though it’s a new name,” Militello said.

Read more: Alumnus James Militello (JD '91) Advocates for a Tech-Savvy Practice in Woodstock, Ill.

The John Marshall Law School in Chicago, founded in 1899, will conduct its 195th commencement on Sunday, May 19, 2013, awarding 290 JD degrees.

Read more: The John Marshall Law School in Chicago to Conduct 195th Commencement Exercises May 19

In 2008, if a person wanted to study at the John Marshall Law School, she'd have to navigate her way to downtown Chicago, lugging heavy books and wearing something a little more formal than pajamas, to attend live lectures in a classroom setting.

Five years later, JMLS offers more online LL.M. degrees than any other accredited U.S. law school, allowing lawyers anywhere in the world to expand their legal educations from the comfort of their own homes, day or night, wearing whatever clothing feels best.

Read more: John Marshall's Online Offerings Let Lawyers Earn LLMs at Home

"Even with improved forms, if the borrower is distracted by conversation, they can fall prey to interjected distractions," Stark said. "All it takes is someone asking a question or making a comment not related to the document and the borrower can miss important information. These types of distractions routinely occur at closings."

Read more: 1 in 3 Homebuyers Clueless About Mortgages, According to Study Done by Prof. Debra Pogrund Stark

“As a board, we have to do this with requirements of incorporating the common core curriculum and the immediate incorporation of the common core standards in NY State assessment testing,” Lorintz said.

Read more: Jericho Board of Education President Joseph Lorintz (JD '82) Runs Unopposed in Re-Election

She was recognized for "Many consider Fort Dearborn a Chicago tragedy," which commemorated the bicentennial of the battle and massacre of the Fort Dearborn garrison, and "Professor gives the Amendment an 'F'"—which explained the proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution's clause guaranteeing the rights of those receiving governmental pensions.

Read more: Prof. Ann Lousin Honored by Illinois State Historical Society for Two Chicago Daily Law Bulletin Columns

The event begins with continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and a panel discussion on the scope and impact of the Second Amendment on the issue of gun violence prevention, moderated by Professor Ann Lousin of the John Marshall Law School.  Panelists for this segment include David G. Sigale (plaintiff's attorney in McDonald, et al v. City of Chicago), Professor Geoffrey R. Stone (former provost of The University of Chicago and dean of its law school), and Professor Douglas Berman (Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University Law School).

Read more: Prof. Ann Lousin to Moderate Gun Violence Prevention Panel

Baseball has been a fixture in his life since he was barely old enough to hold a bat. His love of the game is what Kozlar wants the next generation in his neighborhood to appreciate as much as he does, so he finds time to volunteer as president of the Canaryville Little League.

Kozlar, who is planning for a career as a patent attorney, admits it takes yeoman’s effort to keep the league going and be a full-time student. “I manage because I keep myself organized,” he explains. “I have to plan my weeks and months ahead of time to make certain I stay focused and don’t fall behind on my readings and assignments.”

In 2009, while he was still a pre-med/political science major at the University of Chicago, Kozlar stepped forward to coach a little league team. He became league president the following year, and set about organizing the league to increase participation. He got his friends and community members together, and the league today serves an estimated 350 boys and girls. With the expanded budget, the league has made improvements to the privately owned park and provides the necessary uniforms and equipment for the players.

“The park was in need of improvements, so we set out to do major fundraising so we could get as close to a professional field as possible,” Kozlar explained. Over the past few years, donations from regional businesses have helped the league rebuild the park. Volunteers have installed new fences, bleachers and an electronic scoreboard, a brick backstop wall was built, and the field today is leveled and in pristine shape.

“I’ve played baseball since I was three years old,” Kozlar said. He moved from the Canaryville Little League to playing ball as a pitcher for Mount Carmel High School, followed by four years as a pitcher for the University of Chicago baseball team. Today he plays mostly pick-up games with his friends.

“Baseball is a big part of my family’s life, too, but I got to an age where I couldn’t play organized ball anymore, so I wanted to give back to little league.”

Kozlar has kids from seven Chicago neighborhoods, including Bridgeport and Canaryville, play league baseball and softball. Teams serve boys and girls ages three through 12, and girls ages 13 through 16.

The ballfield, on the 400 block of West 45th Place, isn’t far from U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. Kozlar said the major league team has been great about taking Canaryville Little League kids for its various baseball camps.

F. Willis Caruso

Clinical Professor F. Willis Caruso will be honored on May 23, 2013, with an award for Excellence in Public Interest Service presented by the United States District Court, in conjunction with the Chicago Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

Caruso was selected for his years of outstanding pro bono work on behalf of those who otherwise would fail to have representation. From the time he graduated from Northwestern University Law School he has dedicated time to pro bono legal work. He has given countless hours developing cases, representing clients in court and teaching students not only how to develop cases but why public service and pro bono work is so important for the betterment of society.

Several of the cases Caruso argued have been precedent-setting, including Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. et.al. v. Village of Arlington Heights which went before the United States Supreme Court. On remand, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Caruso’s clients in the case faced violations under the Fair Housing Act.

Caruso serves as director of the law school’s Pro Bono Program and co-executive director of The John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Legal Support Center. He previously was director of the law school’s Fair Housing Legal Clinic.

It is estimated he has provided pro bono legal assistance in at least 1,000 cases. He was a founding member of the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation, and was general counsel for the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. It was during that time that Caruso worked with Professor Michael Seng to develop an externship program for students.  Their work led to the founding of the Fair Housing Legal Clinic.

Caruso then went to work as general counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) helping the agency as it transitioned from housing developments to scattered site housing that enabled persons with Section 8 vouchers to move into neighborhoods throughout the Chicago area.

It was after his work at CHA that Caruso joined the John Marshall staff in 1994. Caruso directed the Fair Housing Legal Clinic until 2008.  As director of the Pro Bono Program Caruso works with staff attorneys Katie Anderson and Linda Anderson as they prepare students to assist Chicago-area clients in need of legal assistance.

Director, Center for Real Estate Law

Activities

She will be part of a teleconference, discussing “green” issues in commercial leasing, and the implications of this “greening” for landlords, tenants and their attorneys.

Daniel Azulay

Adjunct Professor

Activities

He will present at the National Business Institute’s webcast program, “An Attorney’s Guide to Adoption Law” on June 13, 2013.

Ann Lousin

Lousin received an Award of Merit from the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) for two pieces that ran in her “Law and Public Issues” column in CDLB.

Her first column, "Many Consider Fort Dearborn a Chicago Tragedy," commemorated the bicentennial of the battle and massacre at the Fort Dearborn Garrison.

Lousin’s second column, "Professor Gives the Amendment an ‘F,’” explained the proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution's clause guaranteeing the rights of those receiving governmental pensions. After the article was published, public employees asked Lousin to join them in a campaign to defeat the adoption of the amendment in the November 2012 referendum vote.

This is the second year that Lousin has been honored by ISHS. In 2012 she received a Certificate of Excellence Award for her “Law and Public Issues” column.

Lousin has been a professor at John Marshall since 1975, and has been involved in different bar association, civic organizations and charitable societies. In February she was named to John Marshall’s Edward T. and Noble W. Lee Chair in Constitutional Law for the 2013-2014 academic year.

William McGrath

The Chicago Headline Club has presented its Lisagor Award to William McGrath for one of his monthly columns that appeared in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

McGrath’s work, “Gingrich Faces Eye of the Copyright Tiger” was judged the winner in the non-daily publication, circulation less than 20,000 category. The award was presented at the Chicago Headline Club’s program on Friday, May 3, 2013.

McGrath is an adjunct professor and the associate director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law. He maintains a copyright and trademark practice at Davis McGrath LLC in Chicago.

McGrath, who writes a monthly column on intellectual property issues, won for a column, "Gingrich Faces Eye of the Copyright Tiger," which clarified misconceptions detailing Newt Gingrich's battle to use the song "Eye of the Tiger" for his 2012 presidential campaign.

Read more: Professor William McGrath Honored by Chicago Headline Club for His Copyright Column

“Even with improved forms, if the borrower is distracted by conversation they can fall prey to interjected distractions,” Stark said. “All it takes is someone asking a question or making a comment not related to the document and the borrower can miss important information. These types of distractions routinely occur at closings,” noted Stark, who practiced real estate law prior to her academic career.

Read more: Prof. Debra Pogrund Stark Works with DePaul Professor on Eye-Tracking Technology Study

Dr. Obucina is a dentist, attorney, and consultant. She graduated from Northwestern University Dental School and she received a Certificate in Prosthodontics. In 2002, she graduated from the John Marshall Law School with her Juris Doctor degree. She has practiced dentistry and law in Chicago and has presented ethics, health literacy, and risk management seminars for the ADA.

Read more: Lillian Obucina DDS (JD '02) Joins Midwestern University's Dental Institute Faculty

Professor Hammond is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Center for Real Estate Law at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.  Professor Hammond will be discussing “Green” issues in commercial leasing and the implications of this “greening” for landlords, tenants, and their attorneys.  Here is a copy (for your download and preview) of a Powerpoint presentation that will accompany Professor Hammond’s comments: http://law.missouri.edu/freyermuth/hammondgreenleasing.pptx

Read more: Prof. Celeste Hammond to Be Part of Commercial Leasing Teleconference

"Our LL.M. and M.S. graduate degrees in employee benefits still remain the only degrees of their kind in the nation," Kennedy said. "Thus, three years ago we made the decision to offer the required courses online, as well as in-class, in hopes of increasing enrollment. …Given the responses from students who did enroll in the online courses, we decided to expand and offer elective courses so that the students could attain the 24 required [credit] hours solely online."

Read more: John Marshall's Online Offerings Let Lawyers Earn LLMs at Home

Ann Lousin, a professor at John Marshall Law School who was a researcher at the 1970 constitutional convention and wrote a book about the Illinois constitution, said Madigan's approach could invite a court to look at other options available to the state. For example, Illinois does not tax pension or Social Security benefits as many other states do, but the House adopted Madigan's bill rather than fixing the pension problem with a new tax.

"The court will want to know if you've done all you can," Lousin said.

Read more: Prof. Ann Lousin Comments on Rep. Mike Madigan's Prosposed Illinois Pension Reform Bill

In the wake of this mandate, one might think that anyone putting their financial lives on the line is now carefully reading and fully comprehending loan terms before signing their financial futures away. Perhaps not, according to a first-of-its-kind study by Jessica Choplin, associate professor of psychology at DePaul University, and Debra Pogrund Stark, professor of law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

Utilizing visual sensory technology to track eye movement, Choplin and Stark’s research found that study participants often failed to note that the loan’s interest rate and monthly payment would rise. Participants in the three-year study were first verbally informed of either the initial interest rate or initial monthly payment and then instructed to review the disclosure form to prepare to answer questions about the loan. Although the disclosure form used prior to lending reforms included a sentence identifying the loan as having an adjustable rate, 31 percent failed to look at this information. Instead they skimmed the form looking for confirmation of what they had been told and then ceased to look further.

Choplin and Stark then ran the same experiment but with the improved home loan disclosure forms that better highlight the adjustable rate features of the loan. Participants who were presented with the improved home loan disclosures were more likely to see that the interest rate and monthly payment could increase. But, 19 percent still failed to notice that the loan had adjustable rate features. This result shows that improved disclosure forms can lead to better-informed decision-making.

However, Choplin and Stark ran a third test, in which the new forms were used but distractions were created as the study participant reviewed the document. The distractions led to 45 percent of participants failing to comprehend the loan they were reviewing had an adjustable rate. At 45 percent, this failure rate more than doubled from previous experiments.

“While a great deal of effort by the federal government has been put into reforming and improving home loan documents, many of the underlying problems that led to the mortgage and real estate crisis appear to persist,” said Choplin, who co-authored the study with Stark and Mark A. Leboeuf, a DePaul graduate student in psychology.

“Even with improved forms, if the borrower is distracted by conversation they can fall prey to interjected distractions,” Stark said. “All it takes is someone asking a question or making a comment not related to the document and the borrower can miss important information. These types of distractions routinely occur at closings,” noted Stark, who practiced real estate law prior to her academic career.

The studies are part of a larger project funded by the National Science Foundation examining how consumers review and process information in home loan disclosure documents. Choplin and Stark have written 10 papers since 2007 on issues relating to consumer fraud.

“I believe the study suggests that more targeted counseling is needed to make sure that consumers understand how their mortgages fit into their larger financial goals,” Choplin said.

“Making the forms easier to understand and better disclosing problematic loan features is essential, but so is requiring an unbiased expert such as an attorney or mortgage lender who possesses the relevant background knowledge to assist the borrower in making a wise home loan decision,” Stark stresses. “Even when borrowers noticed that the loan contained adjustable rate features when rating the desirability of the loan, many failed to note how that could lead a borrower to not be able to afford the loan in the future, a point that an unbiased expert would highlight.”

The studies appear in the current issue of the Yale Law Journal Online and can be found at http://bit.ly/15dzpDT.

Professor Schwinn was a guest on WBEZ's Morning Shift with Tony Sarabia on April 30, discussing FOIA requests from state to state: One of these petitioners was not a state resident, seeking records to child support enforcement from an ex-spouse who lived in Virginia. The other one was seeking real estate tax records from the state of Virginia. And the state denied both requests under the state FOIA, stating that their state FOIA applies only to Virginia residents. Only Virginia residents can get information by way of FOIA.

Professor Schwinn was a guest on WBEZ's Afternoon Shift with Peter Sagal on April 29, giving a refresher on the U.S. Constitution: "The Constitution kind of provides a framework for allowing politics to happen in a civil way in this country. It gives enough flexibility to allow the political branches to do what they need to do to represent the will of the people, more or less—and that's why I think it more or less works."

Professor Hugh Mundy

Professor Mundy commented on the guilty plea in the Donne Trotter case in the Weekly Citizen: “I believe the motivation for the plea was the case was up for a misdemeanor and not a felony,” Mundy said. “A felony conviction is much more serious in length and consequences. The senator would not have been able to ever possess a firearm again if he’d been convicted on a felony charge.”

Katie Anderson (left), staff attorney at, and coordinator of, The John Marshall Law School Pro Bono Program, received the Partner Award, and 3L Caitlin Papadopoulos was named to the Pro Bono Honor Roll by Chicago Volunteer Legal Services at its awards ceremony April 18, 2013.

Chicago Volunteer Legal Services (CVLS) honored the outstanding efforts of John Marshall Law School staff member Katie Anderson and student Caitlin Papadopoulos in assisting those who otherwise would not have the assistance of an attorney.

At the CVLS award ceremony April 18, 2013, Anderson (JD ’10) has been the law school’s liaison with CVLS on the Cook County Foreclosure Mediation Program. She works to ensure that dozens of John Marshall students are trained to competently handle foreclosure mediation cases.

The CVLS Law Student Clinic was created in May of 2011 in response to high student demand for summer volunteer positions through John Marshall’s Pro Bono Program. Student volunteers assist homeowners and CVLS prepare for upcoming mediations.

Their volunteer efforts give them client interaction; client counseling skills; a substantive understanding of foreclosure law; knowledge about the mediation process; experiences of what it is like to work within a legal aid organization; and the ability to effectively work with a diverse client base.

Anderson, who with Associate Dean Ralph Ruebner helped organize the law school’s Pro Bono Program in November 2010, was recognized by CVLS for her “diligence, responsiveness and perceptive oversight that provides her students with a high-quality pro bono experience and helps to shape the future of equal access to justice.” Today Anderson works with Professor F. Willis Caruso, Pro Bono Program director.

Papadopoulos is one of the students Anderson mentors.  Her work ethic and concern for her clients is valued by CVLS which recognized her for her “passion for helping those in need in our communities.”

Through her work with CLVS Papadopoulos was eligible for a 711 license, and has been able to practical information through her volunteer efforts. “It’s been a great experience, everyone has been so helpful, and it’s a great way to advocate for others.”

“These are people that need the most help navigating the legal process,” Papadopoulos said. “So many are scared and don’t know what’s going on. I like being able to demystify the whole experience for them.”

Papadopoulos hopes to continue working in legal aid pro bono fields after graduation. “It’s rewarding to help people who need legal assistance.”

Papadopoulos received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Lewis University, with the intention of attending law school.

Ryanne Bush Dent

Ryanne Bush Dent will address her fellow graduates at the May 19, 2013, commencement when she delivers the valedictory speech at The John Marshall Law School’s 195th commencement exercises.

The law school will award 290 JD degrees, 26 LLM degrees and eight MS degrees.

Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis will be the honorary degree recipient and will address the graduates.

The Dedicated Service Award will be presented to Clinical Professor Joanne Hodge and Professor Walter J. Kendall III, and the Recognition of Scholarly Achievement Award will be presented to Professor Jason Kilborn.

Valedictorian Bush Dent ranks first in the graduating class. A member of the Moot Court Honors Council, she and teammate Patrick Bushell won first place national honors at the Mugel National Tax Moot Court Competition this spring. She also was named Best Oralist at the competition.

Bush Dent has been a member of The John Marshall Law Review, and her article “No Duty to Warn of Drug Interactions: A Dangerous Perscription” was published in the winter 2013 issue. A Herzog Scholar and Dean Edward T. Lee Scholarship recipient, Bush Dent received CALI honors in Torts, Contracts, Criminal Law, International Commercial Dispute Resolution and Real Estate Transactions.

She served as a research assistant to Professor Alberto Bernabe, and was a judicial extern for United States District Court Judge Ronald Guzman and Illinois Appellate Court Justice Mary K. Rochford. During law school she also worked part-time at Nebo Systems, Passport Health Communications as a system administrator and training consultant.

In summer 2011, Bush Dent interned at Citizen Works where she was assigned to the Reformation of Contracts Team and helped create a Consumer Bill of Rights to incorporate into contracts of adhesion and drafted model contract provisions for consumers dealing with contracts of adhesion.

Bush Dent received a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude, in psychology, in May 2008 from The University of Tampa.

“I believe the motivation for the plea was the case was up for a misdemeanor and not a felony,” Mundy said. “A felony conviction is much more serious in length and consequences. The senator would not have been able to ever possess a firearm again if he’d been convicted on a felony charge.”

Read more: Prof. Hugh Mundy Comments on the Trotter Guilty Plea

“To say that the Tenth Amendment somehow empowers states or gives them state sovereignty is just reading way too much into the text,” John Marshall Law School law professor Steven Schwinn told CNN in 2010. “The Tenth Amendment just can’t bear that weight.”

Read more: Prof. Steven Schwinn Comments on the Vagueness of the Tenth Amendment

Today I pay tribute to Noble W. Lee and three other lawyers who were among the few members of the bar who appreciated the importance of the Illinois Constitution ... their influence on Illinois constitutional law and practice has been incalculable.

Perhaps Dean Lee's greatest contribution was his influence on his students. Because every graduate had to study the Illinois Constitution, it is not surprising that several graduates of John Marshall were members of the sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1969-1970. During my only conversation with Dean Lee about the Illinois Constitution, I was amazed that he could rattle off the names of cases and statutes from years past.

Read more: Prof. Ann Lousin Discusses Four Who Believed in the Illinois Constitution

He was born Feb 22, 1964 in Gary, IN and lived in Vernon Hills for 14 years. James graduated from Marquette University at John Marshall Law School. Jim was an avid golfer and an all-around sports enthusiast. He was a member of the St. Mary of Vernon Parish, Indian Creek and the Lake County Bar Association.

Mr. Smith's family and friends are in our thoughts.

Read more: James S. Smith III (JD '90) Passes Away

“The homeless most times are in this situation due to a hardship in their life,” Silverstein said. “So, we should embrace our homeless neighbors and give them the basic rights that many take advantage of every day.”

Read more: State Sen. Ira Silverstein (JD '85) Seeks to Give Homeless Equal Rights

“Based on what the veteran submits, the VA has the duty to assist,” said Steven Novak, staff attorney at the John Marshall Law School Veterans Legal Support Center and Clinic.

Read more: VLSC Staff Attorney Comments on VA Responsibility to Assisting Veterans

Eckhardt’s practice includes working with other employee benefit issues, such as qualified retirement plans and specifically ESOPs. He also has experience with ERISA, employment taxes, and fringe benefits, and has assisted clients in applying for private letter rulings with the Internal Revenue Service, as well as assisted in tax controversy cases.

Read more: David Eckhardt (JD '09/LLM '13) Joins Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek SC as Employee Benefits Specialist

One of these petitioners was not a state resident, seeking records to child support enforcement from an ex-spouse who lived in Virginia. The other one was seeking real estate tax records from the state of Virginia. And the state denied both requests under the state FOIA, stating that their state FOIA applies only to Virginia residents. Only Virginia residents can get information by way of FOIA.

Listen here: Prof. Steven Schwinn Discusses State FOIA Laws for Nonresidents

The Constitution kind of provides a framework for allowing politics to happen in a civil way in this country. It gives enough flexibility to allow the political branches to do what they need to do to represent the will of the people, more or less—and that's why I think it more or less works.

Listen here: WBEZ's Afternoon Shift Brushes up on the Constitution with Prof. Steven Schwinn

Despite its century-plus pedigree, there are some aspects of the first-sale doctrine that have yet to be explored. If I buy a copy of "A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole at the bookstore, I can resell that copy as a used book. But what if I buy an e-book version of Toole's novel? Does the first-sale doctrine allow a digital resale? Since the publisher got the benefit of making the original digital sale to me, one might expect that I would have a right to sell the digital copy for less than I paid, transmit it the to buyer and delete the original digital copy from my computer.

Read more: Prof. William McGrath Looks at Digital First-Sale Doctrine Facing a Big Test

“It’s absolutely a manufactured crisis,” says Ann Lousin, a professor of law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago. Lousin was a research assistant at the 1970 convention. She told Illinois Times in a recent interview that in the 1970s, there wasn’t a consensus that the ongoing unfunded liability was a crisis.

Read more: Prof. Ann Lousin Calls Illinois Pensions Issue a 'Manufactured Crisis'

Mr. Zummo concentrates his practice on representing financial institutions in litigation, bankruptcy and receivership proceedings, as well as out-of-court workout and restructuring matters, throughout the United States. He has significant experience enforcing commercial lending agreements, representing creditors in bankruptcy main case and adversary proceedings, protecting secured lenders’ interests in collateral, prosecuting fraud and conspiracy claims against defaulting commercial borrowers, defending lender liability claims, negotiating workouts and restructurings, and handling UCC sales.

Read more: John E. Zummo (JD '97) Joins Howard & Howard

Choplin, along with Debra Pogrund Stark, a law professor at John Marshall Law School, and DePaul graduate student Mark LeBoeuf, conducted three eye-tracking experiments on 50 people to see if the various changes made to the government-mandated home loan disclosure forms made it easier for people to understand and retain critical information.

Read more: Prof. Debra Pogrund Stark Conducts Eye-Tracking Technology Experiment

Activities

He was a guest on Chicago Public Radio’s “Morning Shift” program on April 22, 2013, discussion the legal rights of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev who has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction.

He also was interviewed on April 22, 2013, by reporter Phil Walters for NBC5 on Tsarnaev’s rights as the Boston bombing suspect.

Publications

He wrote a review of the oral arguments in the case United States v. Kebodeaux for SCOTUSblog. The case deals with congressional authority to require sex offenders to register.

Professor Shahram Dana

Publications

His article, “Blood Diamonds and Mass Atrocities: Cutting a New Paradigm from Coarse Jurisprudence,” was selected as the “Worth Reading” new article by the War Crimes Prosecution Watch newsletter, which has more than 9,000 subscribers and is published jointly by Public International Law & Policy Group and Case Western Reserve University School of Law.  The article is available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2244391.

Brian Clauss

Director, Veterans Legal Support Center

Activities

He gave a presentation on “The Ethics of Social Media” at the North Suburban Bar Association’s Legal Ethics Conference on April 16, 2013.

He attended and participated in the two-day meeting of the Labor Arbitration Institute’s Chicago Conference on April 17 and 18, 2013. He was a panelist for the programs “Discipline and Discharge” and “Contract Interpretation.”  He also delivered a presentation on “Workplace Threats.”

Michael Schlesinger

Director, Business Transactions Externship Project

Activities

He was one of the speakers gathered at the University of Illinois at Chicago for the State of Illinois’ Mission: Veteran 2 Entrepreneurs (MV2E) program. More than 200 veterans were greeted by Gov. Pat Quinn at the April 19, 2013, program.

Schlesinger’s presentation was part of the “Business Concept to Business Model” segment designed for veterans interested in or just beginning on the path to entrepreneurship.

The MV2E initiative was launched at the direction of Gov. Quinn by the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Illinois Department of Central Management Services in June 2012 to help returning service members and veterans learn more about resources and opportunities available to veteran-owned businesses through government agencies, educational institutions, trade associations, business sector experts and employers.