Professor Ronald C. Smith of The John Marshall Law School was honored at the American Bar Association (ABA) by the Criminal Justice Section for his years of dedication spent on organizing the National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition hosted by the ABA's Criminal Justice Section and The John Marshall Law School.

Smith was singled out for recognition at the ABA's annual meeting in August. In presenting the award, Robert M.A. Johnson, 2006-2007 Criminal Justice Section chair, applauded Smith for his "countless hours designing problems, recruiting judges and teams, finding coaches for visiting foreign teams and supervising the competition itself."

The National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition was first organized by Smith in 1990.  The three-day spring competition has involved more than 140 teams from law schools throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Ireland, England and New Zealand.

Each year, Smith involves more than 125 judges and lawyers from the Chicago area who participate as evaluators in local courtrooms as the teams present a mock trial.

In 1998, the ABA Criminal Justice Section Award the Outstanding Section Program was presented to the mock trial competition.

Smith has been on the John Marshall faculty since 1968.  He teaches criminal law and procedure and federal criminal law.

The ABA Criminal Justice Section honored John Marshall Law School Professor Ronald C. Smith (third from left) for his continued support of the section's National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Program. Section members presenting him with the award are (from left) Chicago attorney Stephen Komie a council member of Criminal Justice Section; Robert M.A. Johnson, the 2006 -2007 section chair; and Miami attorney Albert Krieger, the 2002-2003 section chair and frequent "celebrity commentator" at the competition.

John Marshall professors Gerald E. Berendt, Doris Estelle Long, Robert J. Nye and John H. Scheid, with Rebecca Cochran of the University of Law School authored the new edition of Contract Law and Practice. The organizational format, case selection, notes, questions, and problems of the first edition of this casebook have proved extremely popular with first-year students. This new edition replaces some cases and adds new notes and problems designed to stimulate student discussion as well as update the text with new developments, including selected proposed changes in the Uniform Commercial Code and novel issues involving electronic information transfer. The authors continue to embrace an approach that invites students to bridge theory and practice in their exploration of contract law. To that end, the casebook's notes and problems address transactional and drafting considerations as well as law practice and litigation questions.

The Teacher's Manual provides briefs, highlighting the core facts and holdings of the cases, teaching points appropriate to particular cases, and suggested hypothetical situations designed to apply the principles and reasoning of each case. The Teacher's Manual also includes suggested answers for most of the problems found in the casebook.

Amid the unprecedented nationwide growth in real estate auctions, which have grown more thanfivefold during the past 25 years and their expanding appeal to out-of-state buyers, the co-authors of a new and far-reaching article in an American Bar Association (ABA) Journal make a strong case for legal reforms to protect both the parties and the industry. Real estate auctions are the fastest growing segment of the live-auction industry, accounting for $51.2 billion in gross U.S. revenues last year, according to an annual study by MORPACE International, a global market research firm.In their 58-page article, published in the current issue of the ABA’s Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal (Vol. 40, Number 4), the authors explain the real estate auction process as it applies to selling non-distressed properties and they examine the legal issues surrounding it. They reveal a lack of clear case law or legislation governing real estate auction practices in the U.S., urge a full review of multiple and inconsistent rules and recommend some key reforms, including a Uniform Real Estate Auctions Act to reduce the confusion among various state laws and eliminate inconsistencies.

Entitled Real Estate Auctions - Legal Concerns for an Increasingly Preferred Method of Selling Real Property, the article was written by Celeste M. Hammond, professor of law and director of the Center for Real Estate Law at The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and Steven L. Good, J.D., AARE (Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate), chairman and CEO of Chicago-based Sheldon Good & Company International, LLC  www.sheldongood.com). Hammond is a former chair of several subcommittees of the ABA’s Real Property Probate and Trust Law Section and Good is former chairman of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) Auction Forum.

“While real estate auctions continue to grow dramatically in size and scope and according to the NAR, will account for 30 percent of all U.S. real estate sales by 2010, we operate within a patchwork of inadequate and inconsistent laws,” said Good. “The auction process can be confusing and daunting,” he added, “as national auction companies try to navigate murky state licensing requirements for both auctioneers and real estate brokers and to understand the ambiguous reciprocity agreements that exist between some states.”

“Twenty-four states have enacted auction and auctioneer licensing statutes that include real estate auctions and each has unique attributes,” Hammond continued. “A new ABA task force should review this situation, propose uniform rules governing real estate auctions and present its recommendations to state commissions.”

Hundreds of thousands of successful auction sales have occurred during the past few decades and increasingly, many require national and international marketing campaigns to draw buyers from around the U.S. and the world, Good explained. “As auctions assume national and international proportions, particularly those involving high-profile resort properties, major investment real estate and large corporate portfolios, we need a uniform set of laws to govern the process.”

 Good cited some examples of major properties Sheldon Good & Company has sold at auction to national and international buyers:

§ the $125 million, single-sale auction of 33 properties in 15 states for the publicly traded company, Affordable Residential Communities (NYSE:ARC);

§ the $11 million sale of 32 luxury condominiums at Eagle Springs Lodge in Solitude, UT (near Park City) for a subsidiary of publicly traded Intrawest, a world leader in resorts and adventure travel;

§ the $19 million auction of 88 condominiums in Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches broadcast to more than 2,000 bidders in three states; and

§ the $20 million sale of 12 properties on 667 acres in eight states sold to individual buyers for publicly traded Alcoa (NYSE: AA).

“We managed to overcome the problems associated with inconsistent laws in these states, but with great difficulty and at great expense to everyone involved,” he said.

REALTORS® have done what they can to address this confusing situation by modifying the ethical rules of the NAR, said Good, who as former chair of NAR’s Auction Forum recommended ethical reforms clarifying REALTORS®’ roles in conducting real estate auctions. “Now, it’s time for the legal and regulatory communities to step up and make these ethical rules part of a comprehensive, uniform law of real estate auctions to protect the public as well as the industry’s reputation,” he added.

“Real estate auctions have gained legitimacy as an efficient method to sell real estate, regardless of category (i.e., residential, commercial or ‘trophy home’),” Good continued. “They are especially well-suited for properties that cannot be easily valued and for sellers in particular circumstances (i.e., surplus corporate real estate and real estate assets sold by fiduciaries). Yet, legal reforms are sorely needed to ensure that this accelerated real estate marketing technique becomes a ‘win-win’ situation for both sellers and buyers.”

Professor Timothy P. O’Neill  

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