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March 16, 2017 by Admin

DePaul & Loyola Host Korematsu Day Events

In 1942, Fred Korematsu resisted detainment under an executive order that placed Japanese Americans in internment camps through the western and southwestern United States. Two years later, Fred courageously challenged his internment before the United States Supreme Court. Tragically, the Court upheld the internment order. However, almost 40 years later, Fred, his attorneys, and community activists prevailed before the Northern District of California federal court reversed Korematsu’s conviction under the internment order. The court held that the government knew that no military necessity had justified the internment, but lied about this before the Supreme Court. On the day his case was to be decided, Fred stated: “I would like to see the government admit that they were wrong and do something about it so this will never happen again to any American citizen of any race, creed, or color.”

The Loyola University Chapter of the NLG hosted a celebration of Korematsu Day and a discussion of how Fred’s legacy informs the current fight on January 30. The film ‘Korematsu and Civil Liberties’ was screened, followed by a panel discussion featuring Fred Tsao from Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Sufyan Sohel from Council on American Islamic Relations-Chicago, Bill Yoshino from Japanese American Citizens League and Andy Kang from Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, moderated by Sameena Mustafa, Managing Director at Bradford Allen

The Loyola event was co-sponsored by the Loyola chapters of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Latino Law Student Association, Black Law Student Association, Immigrant Rights Coalition, Women Law Students, Muslim Law Students Association, Public Interest Law Society, Cultural Impact Initiative, and American Constitution Society.

On Wednesday, February 22, 2017 the DePaul Asian Pacific American Law Students Association hosted a Special Screening “Of Civil Wrongs & Rights,” followed by a Panel Discussion in honor of Fred Korematsu. Panelists discussed the historical background of the Japanese American internment camps and how that experience relates to current civil rights issues faced by the nation today.

The event was hosted by the National Lawyers Guild-Chicago (NLG-Chicago), Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, Japanese American Citizens League, Council on American Islamic Relations-Chicago, Asian American Bar Association of Chicago (AABA), Chinese American Bar Association of Chicago (CABA), Arab American Bar Association of Illinois (AABAR), Filipino American Lawyers Association of Chicago (FALA). The DePaul Student Org Co-Sponsors were: Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, ILS, MLSA, NLG, SAIL

Filed Under: Blog, DePaul, Events, Featured Articles, Law Schools, Loyola

March 1, 2017 by Admin

“(Un)Documented” Immigration Symposium @ Loyola

On Friday November 11, 2016, the Loyola Law School Chapter of the NLG hosted a symposium titled “(Un)Documented”: Human Impact of Our Immigration Policies and Advocacy Strategies. The symposium was presented by the Loyola Public Interest Law Reporter and addressed one of the most controversial issues in the 2016 presidential election: immigration. The featured speaker, Irakere Picon, shared how the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) gave him the opportunity to lobby the Illinois state government to enact a law allowing undocumented immigrants to take the bar exam. The speakers discussed the future of DACA in light of the recent Supreme Court split decision in Texas v. United States and the current presidential election. Speakers also discussed the humanitarian crisis of unaccompanied minors arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border, immigration and criminal law issues, and the role of activist lawyering in the current political climate.

More info here.

Below is a list of the speakers with biographies:

FEATURED SPEAKER

Irakere Picon is an attorney and activist. As an undocumented immigrant, he successfully lobbied the Illinois state government to enact a law allowing undocumented immigrants to take the bar exam and became the first undocumented immigrant licensed to practice law in the state of Illinois this October. Mr. Picon has worked at Community Activism Law Alliance as a staff attorney. He graduated from Northern Illinois University College of Law. Prior to law school, he was the executive assistant at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights in Chicago.

SESSION 1

Nebula Li is a staff attorney with Community Activism Law Alliance (CALA) and committed to engaging with communities to advance social change. Before starting at CALA, Nebula Li practiced immigration, criminal defense, public benefits and civil rights law at Legal Council for Health Justice (formerly known as AIDS Legal Council of Chicago), Shiller*Preyar Law Offices, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago and Justice for Our Neighbors. Nebula Li graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 2011. Nebula Li also interned at Immigration Equality and Harvard Immigrant & Refugee Clinic/Greater Boston Legal Services.

Kalman Resnick is a shareholder with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym., Ltd. Mr. Resnick’s almost 40 years of experience as an immigration law practitioner and his vast knowledge of a multiplicity of immigration practice areas contributes to his ability to advocate for and counsel his clients in the field of immigration law. He has litigated immigration cases before the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the U.S. District Court, and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Mr. Resnick graduated from University of Michigan Law School.

Luis Huerta-Silva is an administrative relief regional trainer with Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Also, he is a coordinator at Sueños Sin Fronteras: Making College Dreams a Reality, an organization encouraging Latino high school students in South Bend to pursue a higher education while embracing their culture and giving back to their community. Mr. HuertaSilva graduated from University of Notre Dame with a BA in Political Science and Latino Studies.

Michael Santomauro is founder and principal attorney for Santomauro Law. Mr. Santomauro’s practice focuses on helping people navigate the complex immigration system to develop affordable legal solutions best tailored to meet their needs. Michael has worked in the area of immigration law since 2008, and recently completed a grant-funded position with the DePaul Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic focused on Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Michael is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) and attends local Chicago Chapter meetings. He graduated from DePaul University College of Law.

SESSION 2

Katherine Kaufka Walts is the Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago focused on promoting the rights and dignity of children by addressing local and global issues facing children via multidisciplinary scholarship and research, outreach and education, and advocacy. Prior to joining Loyola, she served as the Executive Director of the International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA). At IOFA, she developed several projects in the U.S. and abroad advancing the rights of children and youth, including a program to develop the capacity of child welfare system to better respond to child trafficking and exploitation cases. She also managed the Counter-Human Trafficking project at the National Immigrant Justice Center, where she successfully represented victims of human trafficking in the U.S. within immigration and criminal justice proceedings under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

Hillary Richardson is a staff attorney with National Immigrant Justice Center’s (NIJC) Asylum Project, where she focuses her work on obtaining relief for unaccompanied immigrant children, often in the form of asylum or Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). Ms. Richardson also provides technical support to family law attorneys on cases involving SIJS predicate orders from Illinois state courts. Prior to joining NIJC, she worked at LAF’s Children and Families Practice Group, and served as a staff attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Tacoma, Washington, where she provided legal orientation and removal defense for detained adults. Before attending law school, she worked as a paralegal and BIA accredited representative with NIJC’s Adult Detention project. She graduated from DePaul University College of Law.

Kendra H.M. Scheuerlein is an associate with Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym, Ltd. She concentrates her practice in the areas of immigration and nationality matters. These include family-based immigration issues, naturalization, asylum, U visa, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival applications. Her practice also encompasses a wide breadth of businessrelated immigration topics, including nonimmigrant work visas, and employment based permanent residence applications. She also represents clients in removal proceedings before the Department of Homeland Security. Ms. Scheuerlein graduated from the DePaul University College of Law.

SESSION 3

Maria Baldini-Potermin founded Maria Baldini-Potermin & Associates, P.C. in Chicago. She has more than 26 years of experience working in the immigration law field, beginning in 1990 with assisting detained asylum seekers on the Texas-Mexico border. Ms. Baldini-Potermin focuses on removal defense, federal litigation, waivers, family-based immigration, and criminal immigration. She is the author of Immigration Trial Handbook, the update editor for Immigration Law & Crimes, and an expert author-consultant for Interpreter Releases and Immigration Briefings. She has written four manuals on the interstate of state law and immigration law covering Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. She has presented at continuing legal education seminars and trainings around the U.S. She received the 2013 American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) Presidential Commendation and is the chair of AILA’s Federal Court Litigation Section. She is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild.

SESSION 4

Priscilla Orta is a staff attorney with Community Activism Law Alliance. She has been practicing immigration law almost exclusively for the past five years, beginning with her time as a law clerk with the Executive Office for Immigration Review in Harlingen, TX. She has also worked as a staff attorney for Sunflower Community Action in Wichita, Kansas. Ms. Orta is certified to appear before the Department of Veteran Affairs and has a long history of organizing communities to seek alternative solutions to their problems. She graduated from Columbia Law School.

Nubia Willman is a staff attorney in the Immigrants and Workers’ Rights Practice Group at LAF. She represents low-income clients who are victims of domestic violence and other serious violent crimes seeking immigration relief. Additionally, she trains private attorneys, social service providers, and law enforcement officers on immigration remedies for domestic violence and sexual assault survivors. She is the editor of Latinas Uprising, an online community focused on empowering current and aspiring Latina lawyers. Ms. Willman earned her JD from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2010.

Darlene Gramigna is program director for the Immigrant Youth program of the American Friends Service Committee in Chicago. She has been active in organizing high school aged undocumented students and their allies to become the next generation of immigration activists. She has a MSW from the University of Denver. Ms. Gramigna has been active in Central America solidarity work and lived in Nicaragua.

Rebecca Shi is executive director of Illinois Business Immigration Coalition (IBIC), and works directly with a steering committee of 68 Illinois-based CEOs, University presidents, chambers of commerce and immigrant advocates to develop and implement strategy that support the passage of federal immigration reform. IBIC has been extraordinarily effective in moving the politics of the state, winning public bipartisan support from the majority of Illinois’s Congressional delegation for commonsense immigration reform. Ms. Shi was the campaign manager for Illinois’s SB 957 driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants that resulted in licensing and insuring 450,000 undocumented immigrant drivers in Illinois. She graduated from the University of Chicago.

Filed Under: Blog, Events, Featured Articles, Law Schools, Loyola

March 1, 2017 by Admin

Loyola NLG “The Attica Prison Rebellion, its Legacy and the Prison Struggle Today”

On Friday, October 14th, 2016, Loyola NLG, the Uptown People’s Law Center, and People’s Law Office hosted a panel/discussion about Attica and the current prison struggle.

The panel members were: Heather Thompson (author of Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Rebellion of 1971 and its Legacy), Benny Lee (Pontiac Brother and community organizer), Alan Mills of the Uptown People’s Law Center and
Brian Nelson (Solitary Survivor and community organizer). The event was moderated by Michael Deutsch, Attica Brothers Lawyer.

Executive Director of the UPLC, Alan Mills says “It’s worse now than when I started.” after more than 35 years of work in prison reform.

The Attica brothers wanted to get the media in right away. Police came from all over New York state, weapons were passed out indiscriminately over 4 days at Attica before they went in. Prisoners’ demands were shockingly basic in the end, covering things like food & healthcare. You can read their manifesto here.

You can watch the entire panel/discussion here.

For more info check out:

American Prison Inmates, On Strike on WBUR

Obituary for Elizabeth Fink, attorney who represented the Attica Brothers

The Largest Prison Strike in U.S. History Enters Its Second Week

Filed Under: Blog, Events, Featured Articles, Law Schools, Loyola

March 1, 2017 by Admin

Highlights from DisOrientation 2016

Dis-Orientation is an annual city-wide retreat for law students hosted by the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago. This year, Dis-Orientation was hosted by the Northwestern Law School NLG Chapter. The speakers included NLG Chicago activist and law professor Bernardine Dohrn, Juan F Perea of Loyola Law, Destiny Peery of Northwestern Law, and community organizer & recent law grad Quinn Kareem Rallins.

Prof Juan Perea introduced “the Epistemology of Ignorance” to a group of mostly 1st year law studentsat Dis-orientation, teaching them all the ways the constitution is pro-slavery. You can read Prof Perea’s law review article about the pro-slavery constitution here.

 

Bernardine Dohrn spoke about how lawyers & law students can support current social movements. Quinn Kareem Rallins discussed the question of whether change comes from the law or organizing people. He shared the story of using legal services at Boston Legal Aid to support organizing by Project No One Leaves in their fight against foreclosures.

Prof. Destiny Peery reminded us of the dangers of implicit bias in both teaching and the practice of law. The most important step in combating implicit bias is acknowledging it exists. You can take a test and explore your own biases here.

Finally, there was a panel of current law students shares their strategies for surviving & thriving in law school.

For more resources check out the Guerrilla Guides to Law Teaching.

 

Filed Under: Blog, Chicago-Kent, DePaul, Events, Featured Articles, John Marshall, Law Schools, Loyola, Northwestern University, University of Chicago

September 6, 2016 by Admin

NLG Chicago Dis-Orientation 2016 Sept 17

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(Dis)Orientation Chicago 2016

Saturday, September 17 Lunch Served @ 12 PM, Event starts @ 1PM Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
375 E. Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60611

RSVP HERE

(Dis)Orientation is an event for students to discuss surviving law school with our values and commitment to social justice intact. Come meet NLG law students, legal workers, and attorneys, while attending panels and trainings on how to become a people’s lawyer.

The NLG is dedicated to the need for basic change in the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests.

Our aim is to bring together all those who recognize the importance of safeguarding and extending the rights of workers, women, farmers, people with disabilities and people of color, upon whom the welfare of the entire nation depends; who seek actively to eliminate racism; who work to maintain and protect our civil rights and liberties in the face of persistent attacks upon them; and who look upon the law as an instrument for the protection of the people, rather than for their repression.

Free food will be provided, with a happy hour to follow!

diso2016B

Filed Under: Blog, Chicago-Kent, DePaul, Events, Featured Articles, John Marshall, Law Schools, Loyola, Next Gen, Northwestern University, University of Chicago

June 22, 2016 by Admin

Response to the Police Accountability Task Force Report

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On Wednesday April 27 at the Corboy Law Center panelists discussed the task force’s report and its ramifications for future policymaking, people’s lawyering, and activism.

On April 13, 2016, the mayor-appointed Chicago Police Accountability Task Force Report released a scathing indictment of the state of the Chicago Police Department. Many applauded the report’s candor, empirical data, and “painful but necessary reckoning.” Others blasted the absence of community members on the task force, an inadequate critique of the City’s disinvestment in mental health, the (over) emphasis on CPD’s “history,” and, above all, the report’s reiteration of lived experiences that have been ignored, dismissed, and appropriated for generations.

Panelists
Paul Strauss, director of impact litigation
Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights

Stan Willis, civil rights and criminal defense attorney
The Law Offices of Standish E. Willis, Ltd.

Cosette Hampton, youth activist and organizer
Black Youth Project 100

Moderator
Alan Raphael, professor of law
Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Filed Under: Blog, Events, Featured Articles, Law Schools, Loyola

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