Professor Ruebner Steps into Role as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

John Marshall Law School Dean John Corkery has named Professor Ralph Ruebner to serve as associate dean for Academic Affairs.

Ruebner accepted the position Oct. 10, 2007. As associate dean for Academic Affairs he will be responsible for the J.D. curriculum, the full-time and adjunct faculty, faculty development, student academic support services and discipline.

The appointment was ratified by The John Marshall Law School Board of Trustees.

"I see my role as the faculty's dean to encourage, challenge, support and promote the teaching and scholarship of our outstanding faculty. It is through excellence that we will continue to be a very fine law school," Ruebner said.

In announcing his appointment, Corkery said that "Professor Ruebner is a great teacher and scholar and I know he will do a wonderful job as the academic dean. I am very grateful to him for taking on this significant responsibility. I look forward to working with him. There is much to do this year, including our beginning preparations for the law school's American Bar Association inspection."

Prior to his appointment, Ruebner has served as chair of the Faculty Tenure and Promotion Committee. He also chaired John Marshall's Centennial Committee organizing programs during the 1998-2000 celebrations, including a recreation of the Great Chicago Fire Trial.

A respected member of the faculty, Ruebner's specialty areas are evidence, criminal procedure and international human rights. Students have selected him for "Professor of the Year" and "Outstanding Faculty Member" several times.
He was director of the Moot Court Program for 16 years, and served as director of the John Marshall Criminal Justice Clinic for four years.

He has involved students as researchers in legal cases that involved the pro bono representation of indigent prisoners in Illinois and the case of two American women held in Peru on drug charges. Through his connections in Peru, Ruebner has taken several groups of students on human rights fact-finding missions to meet with Peruvian government officials, members of the judiciary and human rights organizations.

Ruebner's work in international human rights dates back to the Soviet Union days when he worked on behalf of human rights dissidents, including Andrei Sakharov, for religious liberty and for the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate. He has published numerous articles and presented papers at international conferences on human rights topics, and has testified before Congress on human rights conditions in Peru.

From 2001-2003, Ruebner was legal director of the Law Consortium for Palestinian Legal Education, a Rule of Law Project of U.S. Agency for International Development.

Before joining the John Marshall faculty in 1981, Ruebner was head of the Chicago Office of the State Appellate Defender. As an appellate attorney, he represented hundreds of individuals before the Illinois Appellate Court, the Illinois Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court and before the federal courts. He was with the office for 12 years.

Ruebner received a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in 1966, and a J.D. degree from American University Washington College of Law in 1969.

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WTO Complaint Against China Discussed at The John Marshall Law School

The John Marshall Law School Center for Intellectual Property Law will present "The United States' WTO Complaint Against China: Origins, Prospects and Implications" as part of its Distinguished Professor Presentation Series from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

Guest speaker Peter K. Yu holds the Kern Family Chair in Intellectual Property Law and is the director of the Intellectual Property Law Center at Drake University Law School. He is a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law and a research fellow of the Center for Studies of Intellectual Property Rights at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, China.

The program is free and open to the public. Attendance qualifies for 1.5 hours of CLE credit. A light lunch will be provided. For more information or to register for the program contact the Department of Event Management at 312.987.1420 or e-mail events@jmls.edu.

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Centers Present Program on Patenting of Tax Strategies

The Center for Intellectual Property Law and the Center for Tax Law and Employee Benefits are co-hosting the program "The Patenting of Tax Strategies: When the Worlds of IP & Tax Attorneys Collide" at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in Room 1200.
Guest presenters will be Professor Richard Gruner, director of the Center for Intellectual Property Law, and Mary Lee Turk, a partner at McDermott Will & Emery LLP. Their program focuses on patenting of tax planning methods from intellectual property and tax perspectives. After their presentations, they will answer questions concerning developments in this area.

A box lunch will be served. There is a $25 fee for those registering for continuing legal education credit. Registrations are being accepted by the Department of Event Management at 312.987.1420 or events@jmls.edu.

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Israeli Counterterrorism Expert Lectures

The John Marshall Law School, in conjunction with the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, welcomed counterterrorism expert and Professor Amos Guiora (fourth from left) of the S. J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah Oct. 9. His presentation focused on "Limitations of Interrogation." With him are (from left) Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest Tom Rowan who also serves as director of Homeland Security; Keren Gelfand, press attaché for the Israeli Consulate; John Marshall Associate Dean Ralph Ruebner; and Andy David, deputy counsel general of the State of Israel to the Midwest in Chicago. Guiora served for 19 years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Judge Advocate General's Corps.

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Changes to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Discussed at The John Marshall Law School

On Aug. 1, 2007, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) published its "Final Rule" announcing a significant number of changes to its Practice Rules for Opposition, Cancellation and Concurrent Use proceedings before the board. The John Marshall Law School Center for Intellectual Property Law is presenting a Lunch & Learn, "The New TTAB Rules - What You Need to Know," from 11:30 to 1:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 29, to discuss the changes.

Catherine Simmons-Gill, of the Law Offices of Catherine Simmons - Gill, and Maureen B. Gorman, of Davis McGrath LLC, will be the guest presenters. Both practice before the TTAB.
The registration fee for the program is $35. Approximately two hours of CLE credit is available upon completion. For more information or to register for the program, contact the Department of Event Management at 312.987.1420 or e-mail events@jmls.edu.

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Student Activities

October 22

You will want to sample the bakery goods from the Decalogue Society that will be available all week in the student lounge.

The Brehon Society will meet at noon and 5 p.m. in room 201.

October 23

The Annual Justinian Real Estate Seminar will be held in room 503 at noon. This is an excellent presentation of the basics of real estate closings, etc. Refreshments will be served.

Decalogue Society bake sale

October 24

The Native American and Indigenous Law Students Association will meet at 5:15 p.m. in room 413.

The Polish Society will meet at noon in room 201.

Please partake of the Interfaith dinner in the student lounge at 4 p.m.

Decalogue Society bake sale

The Women's Law Caucus will meet at noon in room 216.

The Elder Law Society will feature speaker Charles Golbert who will talk about guardianship, ethics and civil rights in room 216 at 5 p.m.

October 25

The Corporate Law Association will meet at 5:30 p.m. in room 800. Pizza will be served.

Anyone interested in the fraternity Delta Theta Phi or the Children's Law Society please see Ms. Criss in room 212. Delta Theta Phi is the oldest fraternity at the school and the only one to have a law review.

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Gwen Gregory New Associate Director of Library's Technical Services Office

The John Marshall Law School welcomes Gwen Gregory as the new associate director for Technical Services in the Louis L. Biro Law Library. She will manage the technical services side of the library operation, including acquisitions, cataloging, processing and stack maintenance, working with five full-time and one part-time staff.

"I've worked in law libraries before, but this one is much larger," Gregory explained. "The volume of materials that comes through here is large, and that means we have an amazing amount of information to keep track of."

Gregory's office is in Room 736 in the Technical Services area. Her extension is 580.

Gregory has worked in other libraries, doing everything from reference to instruction to preservation to cataloging.
She comes to John Marshall after having served as head of Bibliographic Services at the Tutt Library of Colorado College in Colorado Springs. She also served as associate professor and head of Bibliographic Services at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, where she served as interim associate dean, and was assistant librarian at the United States Courts Library in Phoenix.

Her work has been published in journals including Information Today, American Libraries, Public Libraries, College and Undergraduate Libraries and Technical Services Quarterly. She was the compiler and editor of the 2005 book The Successful Academic Librarian: Winning Strategies from Library Leaders, which was a 2006 finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Her article "Old Wine in New Bottles: Repurposing MARC Records for Electronic Resources" will be published in an upcoming issue of the library journal Against the Grain.

She is active in library organizations including REFORMA: the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-Speaking.
Gregory received a bachelor's degree in anthropology from the University of New Mexico, a master of library science degree from the University of Arizona and a master of public administration degree from New Mexico State University.
A native of New Mexico, Gregory said she and her husband, Don Meyer, are ready to experience a big city and all that it has to offer.

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Edward Samuelson Named ASCAP Competition Winner

Edward Samuelson, a third-year student at The John Marshall Law School, has been named the law school's winner of the Nathan Burkan Memorial Competition sponsored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
Samuelson won the $600 prize for his paper "The Fair Use Defense to Copyright Infringement: What Makes Copying Transformative or Commercial?" Samuelson developed the topic after taking Professor Doris Long's Art Law class.
Samuelson's paper examines the fair use defense to copyright infringement and the doctrine of transformative value. The transformative test, articulated by Judge Pierre Leval, determines whether unauthorized copying "adds something new, with a further purpose or different character, altering the first with new expression, meaning or message."

"Unfortunately, just what courts mean by transformative varies so wildly that fair use analysis has become a muddle," Samuelson said. "In practice, the doctrine of transformative value protects parodies, but its application to other types of copying is unpredictable. For example, using copyrighted artwork as motion picture set décor generally infringes. However, such use can qualify for the fair use defense when the artwork appears out of focus. It is difficult to see how blurring an image transforms its purpose or character."
Transformative value is a justification, not a test, he asserts. The doctrine's application hinges on whether judges understand the creative work at issue. In his paper, Samuelson analyzes the argument raised by satirical artist Jeff Koons, who works in a genre known ironically as appropriation art. In Rogers v. Koons, the artist's "String of Puppies" sculpture was found to infringe a postcard image that he copied. "The court failed to grasp the expressiveness of the artist's monumental scale as well as why anyone would pay so much money for conceptual work," Samuelson argued.

"Just 14 years later, in Blanch v. Koons the artist was vindicated. This time, Koons copied a magazine illustration and inserted it into a collage style painting. His victory, however, failed to clarify the fair use defense," Samuelson noted.
Between the two decisions, Koons' stature as an artist changed, and so did the court's appreciation of his work. The chilling reality of copyright law as it applies to the arts is that judges are required to make decisions regarding artistic content, potentially restricting creative expression, Samuelson concluded.

Samuelson will graduate from John Marshall in May 2008. He is president of the American Association for Justice chapter at John Marshall (formerly ATLA) and is a member of the Decalogue Society and the Women's Law Caucus. Through John Marshall's Judicial Externship Program, Samuelson is completing a judicial externship in the Illinois Appellate Court with Justice Michael Gallagher.

Samuelson came to John Marshall after careers as a college French instructor and wholesale diamond merchant. He received a bachelor's degree in medieval studies from Northwestern University, a master's degree in French at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a master of philosophy degree in French studies from New York University.

Samuelson is active in community and political organizations. He is interested in contemporary art and supports Chicago art and artists.

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Schedule of Events

October 22

• Chinese Patent Reexaminer Training, Room 800, 8 a.m.
  
• Insights I, Room 300, noon
  
• CSO: Lunch with a Lawyer Series, Room 526, noon
  
• Library & Computer Policy Committee Meeting, Room 1101, 12:15 p.m.
  
• Trial Advocacy: Client Counseling Tryouts, Room 1202, 1 p.m.
  
• Law Review Reception, Room 3East, 5 p.m.
  
• Lexis/Nexis Refresher, Room 1100, 5:20 p.m.
  

October 23

• Chinese Patent Reexaminer Training, Room 800, 8 a.m.
  
• The Patenting of Tax Strategies: When the Worlds of IP and Tax Attorneys Collide, Room 1200, 11:30 a.m.
  
• Trial Advocacy: Client Counseling Tryouts, Room 1202, 1 p.m.
  
• Westlaw Refresher, Room 1100, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
  

October 24

• Chinese Patent Reexaminer Training, Room 800, 8 a.m.
  
• Employee Benefits Lunch and Learn, Room 1200, 11:30 a.m.
  
• Women's Law Caucus Speaker Program "Breaking the Glass Ceiling", Room 216, noon
  
• CSO: Life After Fall Recruiting: How the Majority of Law Students Get Jobs, Room 403, noon
  
• LexisNexis Advanced Terms & Connectors, Room 1100, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
  
• Veterans Legal Support Clinic Reception, Room 3East, 5:30 p.m.
  

October 25

• Chinese Patent Reexaminer Training, Room 800, 8 a.m.
  
• American Mock Trial Association 8th Annual Intercollegiate
• Mediation Tournament, Room 3East, 9 a.m.
  
• Live from the SEC, Room 1102, 11 a.m.
  
• Insights II, Room 403, noon
  
• Library Brown Bag Presentation: Patent Searching, Room 503, noon
  
• Westlaw Advanced Terms & Connectors, Room 1100, 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
  
• Insights II, Room 201, 5:30 p.m.
  

October 26

• American Mock Trial Association 8th Annual Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament, Room 3East, 9 a.m.
  
• Faculty Scholarship Roundtable Series with David Rudstein, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Room 200, noon
  

October 27

• American Mock Trial Association 8th Annual Intercollegiate
• Mediation Tournament, Room 3East, 9 a.m.
  
• Kaplan PMBR, Room 503, 9:30 a.m.
  
• Insights I, Room 409, 12:30 p.m.
  
• Insights II, Room 413, 2:30 p.m.
  

October 28

• Kaplan PMBR, Room 503, 9:30 a.m.
  

October 29

• IP Lunch and Learn, Room 1200, 11:30 a.m.
  
• CSO: D2 Section Orientation, Room 503, noon
  
• Insights I, Room 300, noon
  
• Faculty Presentation - Kennedy, Room 1003, 12:15 p.m.
  

October 30

• CSO: D1 Section Orientation, Room 503, noon
  
• Information Session for Joint JD/LLM Program in IBT, Room 529, 12:45 p.m.
  
• Library Open House, Library, 2 p.m.
  
• Veterans Legal Support Clinic Program, Room 526, 5 p.m.
  
• Information Session for Joint JD/LLM Program in IBT, Room 529, 5 p.m.
  

October 31

• Tax Lunch and Learn, Room 1200, 11:30 a.m.
  
• D3 Section Orientation, Room 503, noon
  
• Opportunities in Real Estate Law for JD Students, Room 216, noon
  
• Careers in ERISA Litigation Networking Reception, Room 3East, 5 p.m.
  
• Opportunities in Real Estate Law for JD Students, Room 216, 5 p.m.
  

November 1

• European Patent Practice Seminar, Room 1200, 8 a.m.
  
• CSO: D4 Section Orientation, Room 200, noon
  
• Insights I, Room 403, noon
  
• Insights II, Room 201, 5 p.m.
  
• Board of Trustees Faculty Dinner, 5:30 p.m.
  

November 2

• European Patent Practice Seminar, Room 1200, 8 a.m.
  
• CSO: International Law Careers, Room 1102, noon
  

November 3

• Law Preview's Exam-Taking Workshop, Room 200, 9 a.m.
  
• Kaplan PMBR, Room 503, 9:30 a.m.
  
• Insights I, Room 409, 12:30 p.m.
  
• Insights II, Room 413, 2:30 p.m.
  
• ABA Employment Law Trial Competition Regional Reception, Room 3East, 5 p.m.

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Faculty Activity and Publications

Professor Alberto Bernabe

Activities

He was in residence at the University of Puerto Rico Law School as visiting professor & scholar October 8-12. He conducted a series of round table discussions on Tort Reform in Puerto Rico and the United States which included sessions on the proposed revision of the Puerto Rico Civil Code, attempts by the Bush administration to preempt torts actions, possible causes of action against gun manufacturers for damages caused by gun violence and proposals to regulate medical malpractice litigation.

Professor Mary Jean Dolan

Publications

Her article, "Government-Sponsored Chaplains and Crisis: Walking the Fine Line in Disaster Response and Daily Life," has been accepted for publication in the Spring 2008 issue of Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.

Professor Doris Long

Activities

She presented the paper "In the Year 2025, If Copyright Survives..." at the Future of Copyright Conference at the South Carolina School of Law on Oct. 12, 2007. In the presentation, she discussed eight vignettes of the future of copyright in light of the intersection between copyright, technology and information privacy concerns.

She presented one of her current works in progress, "Women's Art, Women's Truth: Gender Discrimination and the Battle to Protect Traditional Knowledge," for the John Marshall faculty on Oct. 15. The piece examines the difficulties of protecting traditional knowledge from a feminist perspective.

Publications

Her article, "Dissonant Harmonization: Limitations on Cash 'n Carry Creativity" will be published in Volume 70 of the Albany Law Review.

Professor Timothy P. O'Neill

Publications

His new article, "The Stepford Justices: The Need for Experiential Diversity on the Roberts Court," will be published in February in Volume 60 of the Oklahoma Law Review. The abstract and article can be found and downloaded at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1021598.

Professor David Schwartz

Activities

On Oct. 4, he addressed the conference in the Instituto Dannemann Siemsen in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His topic was "Protecting Incremental Inventions, Benefits to the Public, to Industry and to Researchers."

Professor Mark E. Wojcik

Activities

He made a presentation in on international law publications to the American Bar Association (ABA), Section of International Law Administration Committee. The presentation was given at the fall meeting of the ABA Section of International Law in London. Wojcik is the publications officer for that section and he also serves as editor in chief of the ABA International Law News. As publications officer, he oversees the section's book publication program, the scholarly journals, the section newsletter and committee newsletters.

He spoke on Oct. 10 at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., on the subject of careers in international law, as part of a joint presentation on international careers co-sponsored by the ABA Section of International Law, the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) Section of International and Immigration Law and Northern Illinois University School of Law. Wojcik serves on the ISBA Board of Governors as the liaison to the ISBA Section on International and Immigration Law, a section that he also previously chaired.

His proposal on "Live Grading" of legal writing memoranda was accepted for presentation for the 13th Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute (LWI) as one of the new and elite evening sessions during that conference, in a format designed for extended discussion and debate. The LWI conference, which is widely recognized as one of the most important legal writing conferences, is planned for July 2008 in Indianapolis. The presentation will explore the pedagogical benefits of "live grading" of student papers, during which students can see the reactions of readers to their writing.

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New Lecture Series Focuses on Doing Business in the Asian Marketplace

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