The John Marshall Law School Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution welcomed six Irish barristers to participate in its Accelerated Trial Advocacy Course this month.

Professor Kenneth Kandaras, director of the center, extended the guest invitations after the barristers participated with John Marshall students in the week long Comparative Trial Advocacy and Litigation program at Dublin's Honorable Society of the King's Inn in June.

The August Accelerated Trial Advocacy Course had 85 students from John Marshall, working with a 12-member faculty composed of federal judges, prosecutors and private attorneys, in the intensive nine-day program that culminated with a jury trial at the Richard J. Daley Center.

Irish guests Emily Ennis and Deirdre Creighton of Dublin, Emily Gibbson of County Galway and Sheila Lehane of County Cork have completed law school through the King's Inn and are about to begin a one year "deviling" program, a mentorship program with a master attorney. Dolores Keane of Dublin has been practicing law for a year, and Frank Drumm of Dublin has been practicing law for three years.

After the June program in Dublin, the barristers say they walked away with new trial techniques. The Accelerated Trial Advocacy course at John Marshall gave them practical experience in preparing a case for trial and then arguing a case.

Although the Irish barristers' training at the King's Inn introduces students to advocacy, the training is presented as theory. In the Irish formal education, "We don't prepare a case or conduct a trial," Ennis explained. However, in the Accelerated Trial Advocacy Course "we're learning how to approach a case, how to develop in-court arguments and advocate."

Drumm called the John Marshall program "superb, and the faculty had an awesome barrage of teaching talent. We get here in two weeks what it takes a year to get in Irish courts," he explained. "In Ireland we learn the theory, and a senior level master attorney translates it into a practical trial presentation" during the unpaid "deviling" program.

Drumm also recognized a different kind of collegiality between the student attorneys and judges of the trial advocacy program. John Marshall has developed working relationships with judges who come to the law school to share their expertise through programs such as the Accelerated Trial Advocacy course. Drumm said in Ireland, it is rare to have judges instructing students. Attorneys don't generally have any contact with judges outside the courtroom. In the courtroom, there is an imaginary line before the judge's bench that attorneys will not cross, especially not novice attorneys.

"It is very hierarchical. The solicitors sit with their backs to the judge, and the barristers sit three deep with the `deviling' attorneys the last person in the line," Drumm said. "We would never be allowed to approach the bench or address the judge as you do."

This is the 17^th year for the Accelerated Trial Advocacy Course scheduled each January and August.

U.S. News and World Report ranks the trial advocacy program at John Marshall among the top 10 in U.S. law schools. The Accelerated Trial Advocacy course is one component of the work done through the Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution. John Marshall also hosts, with the American Bar Association, the National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition which has won the ABA's prestigious "Best of Sections" award; an award-winning Moot Court program; judicial and clinical externships; lawyering process and litigation practicums, and it offers students hands-on experience at case development and in-court arguments through the John Marshall Fair Housing Legal Clinic.

The Employee Benefits Program is hosting a luncheon for its alumni on Monday, September 10^th from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Room 1200 of the law school. Jeffrey Stevenson will give a presentation on "Pension Design Strategies After EGTRRA".

September 4

Career Services - Soup to Nuts Interviewing Skills, Room 1200A, 12:45 and 5:00 p.m.

Faculty Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees Executive Committee, Room 1101, 1:30 p.m.

September 5

PLI Patent Review Course, Room 1200, 9:00 a.m.

Criminal Justice Clinic, Room 1203, 3:00 p.m.

September 6

PLI Patent Review Course, Room 1200, 8:00 a.m.

Career Services - Meet the Employers Night, Student Lounge, 5:30 p.m.

September 7

PLI Patent Review Course, Room 1200, 9:00 a.m.

September 8

PLI Patent Review Course, Room 1200, 9:00 a.m.

Young Alumni "Chicago Fire Night", Soldier Field, 6:00 p.m.

September 9

PLI Patent Review Course, Room 1200, 9:00 a.m.

September 10

Employee Benefits Alumni Luncheon, Room 1200B, 12:00 p.m.

September 11

IP Adjunct Faculty Lunch, Room 1200B, 12:00 p.m.

Women's Law Caucus & Career Services Program, Room 1200A, 12:00 p.m.

ISBA Tuesday Topic Series, Room 1200B, 4:00 p.m.

Open Joint Meeting of the Faculty Curriculum Committee and Student Honors Committee, Room 1200B, 5:00 p.m.

September 12

Alumni Association Executive Committee Meeting, Room 1203, 12:00 p.m.

ITCC Program - Trade Resources: Public and Private, room 1200A, 2:00 p.m.

September 13

Center for International Business and Trade Law Adjunct Faculty Meeting, Room 1200B, 12:00 p.m.

1^st Annual Beverly W. Pattishall Distinguished Lecture in Trademark Law with Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Room 1200, 2:00 p.m.

September 14

Fair Housing Seminar - "Protected Classes: A Fresh Perspective", Room 1200, 8:45 a.m.

September 15

Fair Housing Seminar - "Protected Classes: A Fresh Perspective", Room 1200, 9:00 a.m.

U.S. Supreme Court: Review and Preview, Room 200, 9:00 a.m.

Alumni Association Annual Reunion, Zodiac Room, Neiman Marcus, 7:00 p.m.

Professor Michael L. Closen

Publications

His article about privacy and HIV test results [in 22 Loyola University of Chicago Law Journal 445 (1991)] has been cited in 79 Washington University Law Quarterly at 221 (2001). His article about the analogy between notaries public and certification authorities [in 17 John Marshall Journal of Computer and Information Law at 833 (1999), co-authored with John Marshall alum John Anderson] has been cited in 9 Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law at 387 (2001), and in 76 Notre Dame Law Review at 1183 (2001). His article, "10 Steps To Sound Risk Management for Company Notarial Practices," has been accepted for publication in National Notary Magazine for November of 2001.

Professor Joel R. Cornwell

Activities

In convocation ceremonies on August 24th, he received a Master of Liberal Arts degree from the University of Chicago. His thesis topic was "Testimonies to the Hungry Heart: Augustine's Confessions and Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams."