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Editor: Assistant Dean John M. McNamara,
room 1212, ext. 393, 6mcnamar@jmls.edu. All information to be published in
Up & Coming must be placed in the
UPCOMING directory on the H drive of The John Marshall Law School's
computer network by each Tuesday at 12 p.m.
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 Americans have a love/hate relationship with
attorneys, argues best-selling author and noted attorney Scott Turow.
"Lawyers are neither any better nor any worse than any other segment of
society," Turow told an audience at The John Marshall Law School where he
was the guest speaker for the November Media Law Symposium.
It is the intensity of the media that has changed people's perceptions, he
believes.
One of television's earliest portrayals of attorneys was Perry Mason,
depicted as the good, pure, virtuous attorney proving his client's innocence.
Today television, radio and print offer overarching views of the law _
everything from Court TV to instantaneous coverage of the O.J. Simpson trial
and made-for-TV law programs such as "LA Law."
Even a general understanding of court procedures is creeping into American
jargon. "I never expected to hear someone say `Let me give you the sidebar
on that,'" Turow said. The old cliché "the trial of the
century" doesn't hold any longer. We are fascinated by a sensational trial
each year now, he noted.
"Americans are awestruck by the influence of the law, yet they love to
hate (its influences). I call it the Madonna Syndrome," Turow explains.
"It's a terrible conflict or an ambivalence."
The true and fictional representations of attorneys are proving that all are
not the "Perry Mason" hero. Turow's own characters in his novels,
including "Presumed Innocent" and "Burden of Proof" have
depicted attorneys caught in wrongdoing. In real life, the public is now aware
of attorneys convicted of stealing, bribing and other illicit deeds. Turow
believes the "bubble burst" with Watergate when attorneys were jailed
for their part in the Nixon scheme that unraveled his presidency.
Yet at the same time, the public knows it needs attorneys, said Turow who
practices at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal. "In surveys the public
argues lawyers have too much influence, and law has overwhelmed its
boundaries," he noted, but those same people can not ignore the law
because "it gives an answer. The public recognizes law has changed society
often for the better, and court is the most reliable place for an earnest
hearing and delivery of redress."
"We lawyers are the group that tells Americans what to believe
in," Turow stressed.
 Professor Ron Smith (second from the
left) welcomed David Pierce (left), head of Inward Investment for the Ulster
Bank Group in Dublin, Ireland, Colleen Grace, vice chair of the Chicago-Galway
Sister Cities Committee and a 1979 John Marshall graduate, and James F.X. Fahy,
chair of the Chicago-Galway Sister Cities Committee and a partner with Schiff
Hardin & Waite, to a November presentation on the new Euro, a common
currency for Europe. The first joint forum sponsored by The John Marshall Law
School and the Chicago Sister Cities International program featured Pierce who
discussed the impact of the January 1999 introduction of the Euro on American
financial and legal institutions.
They would recognize "those who have conferred the greatest benefit on
mankind," said founder and namesake Alfred Nobel of his five
internationally renowned awards, including the Peace Prize. This year's Peace
Prize recipients, John Hume and David Trimble of Ireland, now join more than
100 peace activists, humanitarians, statesmen and human rights defenders as
honorees.
During "Paths to Peace," a recent centennial conference at The
John Marshall Law School, Anne C. Kjelling, head librarian for the Nobel
Institute, recounted the history of the award. She characterized Nobel, the
inventor of nitroglycerin, as "a lonely man, who didn't have a family of
his own. He was described as the wealthiest vagabond in Europe." Nobel
became interested in the emerging peace movement in the late 1800s from a
lifelong friend, Bertha von Suttner, who kept him informed of the movement's
progress and in turn, Nobel sent her money to support her work.
After Nobel's death in 1896, his will entrusted the award to Norway. Its
parliament or "Storting" elected the first five members to the
Norwegian Nobel Committee in 1900. The first prize was awarded in 1901. Now
independent of the Storting, the Nobel Committee selects the laureates each
year from nominations made by international government representatives and
professors in the fields of law, political science, history and philosophy. The
Nobel Institute administers the work of the Nobel Prize Committee and the Nobel
Foundation oversees the institute.
Who are the 77 men, 10 women and 18 institutions that have received this
badge of honor? More importantly, what has made their contribution worth
international fame and a financial prize of nearly $1 million?
Initially, they were a geographically provincial group, but over time their
ranks and scope have come to span the globe. Woven together, their myriad
stories form a rich tapestry of human endeavor for the cause of lasting world
peace.
"If we look back upon all the men and women who have received the Peace
Prize over the years, we find they are of widely divergent personalities and
views. Many of their lives were marked by passion, grief and struggle,"
offered Fredrik Stang in 1936, then chairman of the Nobel Committee.
Kjelling says today's Nobel Peace Prize carries increased influence and can
even elevate its recipients to celebrity status. "The media seek out
laureates, wanting their opin ions on various political and moral issues,"
she stated.
Kjelling has grouped the laureates into 6 categories: the organized peace
movement, statesmen, human rights, non-violence, humanitarians and
institutions.
Since the beginning, Nobel laureates have traveled complex and personally
challenging paths to peace. From the organized peace movement, American Emily
Greene Balch was selected for her peace efforts during both World Wars. She was
secretary-general of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
Fiercely loyal to the United Nations, she worked to build support for it
through lectures she delivered around the world.
In the same era Jane Addams was also a winner. Addams, along with Martin
Luther King Jr., Albert Schweitzer, the Dalai Lama and the Quakers comprise the
group dedicated to non-violence.
President Theodore Roosevelt was honored for drawing up the peace treaty
that ended the Russo-Japanese War. Another statesman, Ralph Bunche, earned the
Peace Prize in 1950 after his success as a United Nations mediator in the
hostilities between Arabs and Jews over Palestine. His work required him to
negotiate with four Arab countries on one side and Israel on the other. In his
Nobel lecture, Bunche said, "Peace, to have meaning for many who have
known only suffering in both peace and war, must be translated into bread or
rice, shelter, health, and education, as well as freedom and dignity _ a
steadily better life."
In the institutional category, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees has won twice. Another recent winner was The
International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Albert Lutuli, president of the African National Congress, received the
award in 1961 for his humanitarian work against apartheid from 1944 to 1960,
when the South African government banned the ANC. Other prizes given to leaders
for human rights work include Carl von Ossietzky, Andrei Sakharov, Elie Wiesel,
Perez Esquivel and Lech Walesa. "Many of these prizes were
controversial," Kjelling said. "They have been criticized for not
being relevant to the peace cause."
In September 1997, laureates summoned their collective power and appealed to
the United Nations to declare the years 2000 to 2010 as the "Decade for a
Culture of Peace and Non-Violence." Mairead Corrigan Maguire, one of the
1976 laureates, told reporters, "The challenge facing us now is to begin
to solve our problems through dialogue and negotiation, through non-violence,
because wars are obsolete."
Later that month, 15 laureates denounced the use of anti-personnel land
mines and challenged President Clinton in an open letter to "demonstrate
courageous leadership" by endorsing their comprehensive ban. Despite his
failure to do so, this tactic, and the attention it received, attests to the
star power of the Nobel Peace Prize.
 Members of The John Marshall Law School
Moot Court Executive Board for 1998 are (from left) Charles Walker, Brian
Russell, Mary Ann Ruggio, Klint Bruno, Carlos Escobar, Bree Pavey, Stacey
Plummer, Melissa Smart, Megan Mulay, Max Hymas, Phil Abellera and Jonathan
Thomas.
Associate Dean Rory Smith
Activities
He was appointed to the Board of Education of Flossmoor School District #161
on November 23, 1998. The school board elected him from a field of seven to
fill the unexpired term of a board member who recently resigned. His
appointment will expire in November 1999.
On Tuesday, November 17, Adjunct Professors Joseph Butler and J. Damian
Ortiz participated in the training completed by, Merilyn Brown `90, Attorney
Advisor, U.S. Department of HUD, for new HUD trainees which took place on
November 17 & 18, at The John Marshall Law School.
Joseph Butler lectured on the topic of Theories of Discrimination, J. Damian
Ortiz lectured on the topic of Who has Standing To Sue.
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 Writer Turow Argues Attorney
Portrayals Give Mixed Messages
 December 9
Board of Trustees Meeting, Room 1102, 4:00
p.m.
Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights
Reception, Room 1200, 5:30 p.m.
 Associate Dean William Powers (right)
presents the award for "Outstanding Substantive Legal organization in a
Specialty Area" to Shahriar Tavakol, chief officer of the International
Law Society.
 Jeni Roling, chief officer of Phi
Alpha Delta, accepts the "Outstanding Social Organization" award from
Associate Dean William Powers.
 Sherri Dunne, president of the Student
Bar Association, presents Prof. Leonard Schrager the "Faculty of the
Year" award. Schrager was selected by the January 1999 graduating class.
He was presented the award at the annual holiday party.
 Associate Dean William Powers (right)
presents the award for "Outstanding Substantive Legal Organization in a
Specialty Area" to Shahriar Tavakol, chief officer of the International
Law Society. Associate Dean William Powers (right) presented the top student
organization award to David Austin, chief officer of the Gay and Lesbian Law
Association. The organization was recognized as the overall student
organization who has done the most and accumulated the most points. GALLA will
have its name engraved on a plaque displayed on 2-E.
 Georgette Reynolds, chief officer for
the Black Law Students Association, accepts the "Outstanding Ethnic
Organization" award from Associate Dean William Powers.
Professor Ronald C. Smith
Activities
He attended the fall meeting of the Council of the Criminal Justice Section
of the American Bar Association in Washington, D.C. He reported on the progress
of the 1999 National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition, which is
co-sponsored by the John Marshall and the Criminal Justice Section. The law
schools which will participate in this trial competition next March 25 - 27 are
Albany, Arizona State, California Western, CUNY, Detroit at Michigan State,
Georgetown, Georgia State, Harvard, Houston, John Marshall, Lewis and Clark,
Pepperdine, Regent, South Carolina, Southwestern, Stetson, Washington and Lee,
West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The twentieth team is from Canterbury University
Law School in New Zealand (in 1997 John Marshall hosted a team from the law
school of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland). These 20 schools were selected
from a pool of over fifty law school teams which sought an invitation to this
award-winning competition.
As chair of the Criminal Justice Section's Continuing Legal Education for
the ABA meeting in London in the year 2000, Professor Smith also reported on
the status of several plenary programs which the Section will sponsor. He has
primary responsibility for planning and producing a program, "The Future
of the Jury," which may feature a U.S. Supreme Court Justice and several
participants from the U.S., Great Britain, and Ireland, who are
nationally-recognized experts on the jury system.
He also was able to report on the status of a forthcoming ABA Criminal
Justice Section book, Environmental Crimes. This book, with many
co-authors, was previewed by John Marshall adjunct Professor Sam Lawton and by
George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley (of CNN fame). Professor Smith
recruited several nationally recognized prosecutors and defense attorneys to
act as evaluators in the final round of the National Criminal Justice Trial
Advocacy Competition.
Professor George B. Trubow
Activities
He will speak at the 5th annual Privacy and American Business Conference in
Wash ington, D.C., December 1. on the topic "Privacy in the Next
Millennium: What Lies Ahead." On December 2-4, he will participate in the
quarterly meeting of the Federal Computer Systems Privacy and Security Advisory
Board, also in Washington, D.C.
Professor Mark E. Wojcik
Activities
He served as a memorial judge for the 1998 International Environmental Moot
Court Competition held on November 6-7 at Stetson College of Law in St.
Petersburg, Florida.
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