News

Dear Students:

I hope you are enjoying your summer. Northwestern Law students, faculty, and staff are continually active on a year-round basis teaching summer courses, planning orientation, preparing for On-Campus Interviewing, welcoming new faculty, and improving campus facilities.

Below are links to key updates:

Graduation | Fall OCI | Summer Courses | Summer Conferences | Orientation Planning | New Faculty | New Courses | Facilities Improvements

I hope you enjoy this update on our summer activities and projects. I look forward to seeing you in August!

David E. Van Zandt

GRADUATION

The 2005-06 academic year ended with the Honorable Joel M. Flaum, Chief Judge of the U.S Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, delivering the commencement address to the 409 graduates of the class of 2006. Carter Phillips (JD '77) spoke on behalf of alumni, and Cary Martin (JD '06) and Guilherme da Silva (LLM '06) spoke for the graduating class. Pictures from the ceremony can be viewed online.

We are also pleased to announce that, based on preliminary data, more than 97 percent of our 2006 JD and JD-MBA graduates had accepted positions by graduation. Thirty-six Northwestern Law graduates will serve as law clerks for the 2006 term. Kate Shaw (JD '06) has received a clerkship for the 2007 term from Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (JD '49). In addition, we now know that approximately 99 percent of the JD and JD-MBA Class of 2005 were employed nine months out. More than half have taken jobs outside the Midwest. View employment statistics
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FALL OCI PREPARATION AND THE JUDICIAL CLERKSHIP PROCESS

Many second- and third-year JD students will return to the Law School in about a month to take part in On-Campus Interviewing (OCI), which begins August 21. More than 240 employers are expected to participate in this year's OCI program.

In addition, clerkship applications and faculty recommendations will be mailed on September 5. Returning third-year students who are interested in clerkships should now be discussing the application strategy with a clerkship committee member and creating a list of judges. The June 9 deadline for notifying the Career Center with your list of recommenders has passed but if you are still interested in getting started in this process, you can contact Allison Heverin, Bill Chamberlain, or Sue Provenzano immediately. The next deadline is July 24 for lists of judges to be turned in to the Career Center. Due to the size and complexity of this process, we cannot accept lists that are turned in after July 24.

We strongly encourage all students to consider a post-graduate clerkship. The experience gained by working with a federal or state judge is beneficial for any career path—whether in transactional work, litigation, business, or public service—and will broaden career opportunities.

This summer the Career Center also welcomed David Diamond as its new Director and Irene Reed Vaughn as Associate Director. David was most recently Director of Career Services at The John Marshall Law School. Irene joins us from the Chicago law firm of SchwartzCooper Greenberger & Krauss. They will be working on programming, among other things, and will also be available to counsel JD students.
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SUMMER COURSES

This year we have 137 JD, JD-MBA, and LLM/Kellogg students enrolled in our summer courses, which include Business Associations, Directed Reading and Research, Managing Corporate Assets, Negotiations, Common Law Reasoning, and three practica. In addition, 16 students are working with centers in the Bluhm Legal Clinic.

In June, we welcomed 34 accomplished international attorneys as part of the Graduate Program in Law and Business (LLM/Kellogg) Class of 2007. They bring professional and cultural perspectives from more than 20 countries, including Brazil, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Turkey, and Thailand. They are taking summer courses including Business Associations (taught by Gary Rose) and Common Law Reasoning (taught by Elizabeth Inglehart). They will also take Math Methods for Management Decisions and Accounting for Decision Making from Kellogg faculty.

Emerging second-year JD-MBA students are also taking the Kellogg portion of their curriculum this summer, which includes Finance I, Accounting for Decision Making, and Math Methods.

Additionally this summer, the Law School partnered with Queen Mary, University of London, and the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation to offer a 5-week Summer Tax Program in London on Taxation in an International Context. Tax faculty from both schools taught courses on U.S. and E.U. tax laws and their application in transactional business practice. The program, which takes place June 19 to July 25 at Queen Mary's Charterhouse Square campus in Central London, is open to law students from the United States as well as the United Kingdom and Europe. Taxation in an International Context is the only foreign summer program approved by the American Bar Association that is devoted solely to the study of tax and that focuses exclusively on the tax implications of international business transactions.
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SUMMER CONFERENCES

In addition to summer classes for law students, the Law School offers conferences and seminars geared towards a range of audiences, including undergraduates, outside faculty, and executives and professionals in the legal community.

In June, Northwestern Law and Northwestern University's School of Continuing Studies (SCS) offered a one-week Pre-Law Summer Institute to provide those considering applying to law school with a preview of what it takes to survive and come out with the skills to succeed in the legal profession. Northwestern Law professors Grace Dodier, Lesley Kagan, and Judy Rosenbaum helped develop the program, and Professors Kagan, Rosenbaum, and Helene Shapo taught the course.

The Law School's Communication & Legal Reasoning program in conjunction with SCS and the University's department of linguistics will also offer a Legal English Summer Institute from July 24 to August 18. The Institute is an intensive legal English course offered at the Law School to improve the law-school-specific English language skills of incoming international LLM students. Instruction centers on small group work and guided practice, and the program is distinctive for week-long "reading and discussion" units providing brief overviews of the typical 1L courses.

Later this month the Law School will co-host a regional Independent Inventors Conference in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the National Inventors Hall of Fame on July 28 and 29. Top officials of the USPO, successful inventors, and other experts will be on hand to provide practical advice and information on marketing and intellectual property protection. The conference is designed for both novice and seasoned inventors.

Finally, Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Stephen J. Murphy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, are among the leading prosecutors and defense attorneys who will gather at Northwestern Law's annual Short Courses for Prosecutors and Short Courses for Defense Attorneys. The program, which focuses on current developments in the world of criminal law, will take place at the Law School July 24 to 27.
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ORIENTATION PLANNING

We look forward to welcoming the incoming classes for orientation on August 25. The Student Affairs team, with the help of second-year student Orientation Coordinators Amber Bain, Richard (R.J.) VanSwol, and Sheila Kang, has planned a week of activities, including community service projects, diversity- and team-building workshops, and fun social events. In addition, the Law School will host a “Welcome Back” reception on Thursday, Sept. 7, for all new and returning students.
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NEW FACULTY

We continue to actively recruit talented scholars and teachers as we seek to carry out our strategic initiative to develop and retain an internationally renowned research and teaching faculty. Please join me in welcoming several new and distinguished members to the Northwestern Law faculty this academic year.
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CURRICULUM

We have added some new courses to the curriculum, some of which will be taught by our new and visiting faculty members. View the Current Course Listing to find out more about these classes.

Critical Race Theory (Charlton Copeland)
Critical race theory's central intellectual contribution to legal discourse has been its critique of the interconnections between race and law and the ways in which race and law define (and are defined by) one another. This seminar will examine the content of critical race theory—its critique of race, color-blindness, and the limits of formal equality—and its methodological commitments, as well as explore a range of social and political issues, namely race and racism, sexism, classism, and heterosexism.

European Legal Systems and the Holocaust: From Genocide to Present Day Restitution (Richard Weisberg)
This seminar will discuss how genocide in Hitler's Europe was accomplished under the color of recognizable (if grotesque) laws, rules, legal commentary, and adjudication. Students will also explore the world's response to these systems, at Nuremberg following World War II and more recently in American federal courts where a modicum of justice may have been restored to the victims or their heirs.

Evidence of the Historicity of Jesus (Anthony D'Amato and Sylvia Neil)
The last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the number of books, essays, and web sites challenging the historicity of Jesus Christ. Although more than a billion people today are convinced as a matter of faith that Jesus existed, faith can be defined as a belief in something for which there is no evidence.This seminar will examine English-only sources and secondary materials in order to organize and assess the tenor and persuasiveness of available evidence concerning the historicity of Jesus.

International Human Relations: Differing Perspectives (Stephen Sawyer)
This course will focus on the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). Students will discuss the case law of these international regional courts, contrasting ECHR and IACHR law with U.S. law and certain other jurisdictions, as well as gain an introduction to various European and hemispheric institutions.

Law and Political Economy Colloquium (Lee Epstein and Emerson Tiller)
In this colloquium, students will review and comment on works of leading scholarship from the fields of law, political science, and economics that relates to the lawmaking processes of courts, agencies, Congress, and the President. They will then discuss its relevance to legal practitioners, and evaluate its contribution to a more general understanding of law.

Music, Copyright, and Digital Technology (Funmi Arewa)
The advent of practices such as digital sampling and digital downloads through Napster, Grokster, and other technologies have challenged both existing business models as well as copyright frameworks in the music industry. This course will address the implications of digital technology for copyright frameworks in the music business and cover a number of issues relating to music, copyright and digital technology, including the implications of musical borrowing, fair use doctrine, contributory infringement, and vicarious liability.

Sports Law (David Schwartz)
This seminar will study the application of various legal doctrines in professional sports, including issues related to contracts, franchise ownership, representation of athletes, development of leagues and associations, and liability for injuries among other topics.
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FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS

We have made several improvements to our campus this summer in our continual effort to make the Law School an even better place to learn, teach, and work.

In addition to standard repairs and updates, we have painted a large portion of the common areas, spruced up the Harry's Cafe eating area and, in conjunction with the Information Technology department, are updating the smart technology in our classrooms.

We have also made extensive renovations to Getz Courtroom and Sidley Hall (McCormick 175 and 185) to create two new 25 seat seminar rooms.

Finally, we are renovating the 8th floor of the Rubloff building to accommodate the Bluhm Legal Clinic, which will move from its current location in the McCormick building. The space will feature a considerably larger student area as well as improved filing systems and technology enabled meeting/workrooms for staff, faculty and students. The work is projected to cost $4 million and is expected to be ready for occupancy in December 2006. The space will allow for a much needed decompression of clinical programs and improve access and collaborative opportunities between centers. An added bonus will be a more professional appearance overall.
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