Access to Social Justice Symposium


September 12, 2018

1 - 6 pm

Thorne Auditorium, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

Access to Social Justice logoThe inaugural Access to Social Justice Symposium will convene experts at the cutting edge of social justice advocacy for a series of interdisciplinary panel discussions on access to justice. Leading members of the civil rights and criminal justice bar, legal tech innovators, community and faith leaders, and skilled investigators will come together over the course of an afternoon in a first-of-its-kind symposium at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, home of the Bluhm Legal Clinic.

On the cusp of its 50th anniversary, the Bluhm Legal Clinic’s mission is to train skilled, ethical, and public-spirited lawyers integral to a society that values and promotes justice. In an era of social change, the Clinic’s mission is more vital than ever, and this Symposium, co-hosted by the Clinic and the Action Injury Law Group, will continue to advance this goal.

This program has been approved for 4.25 general CLE credits in the State of Illinois.


Agenda  |  Speaker Bios  |  Sponsors 


Agenda


OPENING REMARKS AND WELCOME

Kim Yuracko, Dean, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
Juliet Sorensen, Director, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern Pritzker School of Law


Panel 1 (1:05 p.m. - 2 p.m.): CIVIL RIGHTS AND POLICE REFORM IN CHICAGO

A review of historic lawsuits that have fundamentally impacted civil rights in Chicago, including the Ford Heights Four v. the City of Chicago, Campbell v. the City of Chicago and LaPorta v. City of Chicago

  • Antonio Romanucci, Romanucci & Blandin
  • Flint Taylor, People's Law Office
  • Alexa Van Brunt, MacArthur Justice Center

Moderator:  Jeanette Samuels, Principal at Samuels & Associates, Ltd


Panel 2 (2 p.m. - 3 p.m.): DISRUPTION – TECHNOLOGY, FINTECH AND THE LAW

A dialogue on how innovation can help maximize social justice in the digital age and shape the future practice of law.

  • Reuven Moskowitz, Chief Executive Officer of Litify, a leading legal software provider
  • Ari Kornhaber, Executive Vice President of Esquire Bank, a provider of innovative financial products for law firms
  • Andre Stuart21st Century Forensic Animations

Moderator:  Neal Sales-Griffin, Professor, Northwestern Law Master of Science in Law Program


Panel 3 (3:10 p.m. - 4 p.m.): KEYS TO AN EFFECTIVE INVESTIGATION

An interactive discussion on the keys to an effective investigation. 

  • Jamie Kalven, Founder of the Invisible Institute
  • John Conroy, Investigator with the MacArthur Justice Center
  • Andrea LyonCivil Rights / Death Penalty attorney and author

Moderator:  Juliet Sorensen, Director, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern Law


Panel 4 (4 p.m. - 4:50 p.m.): THE SYSTEM AND ACCESS TO JUSTICE

An assessment of the current criminal justice system in Chicago and ways to advance access to social justice. 

  • Megan Church, Former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Partner at MoloLamken
  • Era Laudermilk, Deputy Public Defender
  • Eliza Solowiej, Executive Director, First Defense Legal Aid
  • Marny Zimmer, Special Prosecutor, Cook County State's Attorney

Moderator:  Lynn Cohn, Professor, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern Law


Panel 5 (5 p.m. - 6 p.m.): INTERSECTION BETWEEN SOCIAL JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY ACTION

A discussion of key social justice issues facing our country and actionable steps to make a difference in our communities.

  • Father Michael Pfleger, Civil Rights Leader and Senior Pastor at Saint Sabina Community Church
  • Jabari Parker, Chicago Bulls
  • Eddie Johnson, Superintendent, Chicago Police Department

Moderator:  Andrew M. Stroth, Civil Rights Attorney


Special Performance by Electric Violinist Kat V (6 p.m. - 6:10 p.m.)


POST EVENT RECEPTION

6 - 8 pm
Thorne Auditorium Lobby

Food, drink, and music

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Speaker Biographies


Megan Church

Megan ChurchMegan Cunniff Church is a partner at MoloLamken LLP, where she represents companies and individuals in high-stakes civil litigation and criminal and regulatory matters. She conducts corporate internal investigations in the U.S. and abroad, and she advises clients on crisis and risk management. Immediately prior to joining the firm, Church served as Deputy Chief of the Financial Crimes Section of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. In nine years as an Assistant United States Attorney, she investigated and prosecuted business crime, public corruption, financial fraud, narcotics violations, and organized crime. She served as first or second chair in 15 jury trials and one bench trial, and she successfully briefed and argued numerous matters in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She also served as a law clerk to the Honorable William J. Bauer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and to the Honorable Joan H. Lefkow of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Church is a 2003 graduate of Northwestern University School of Law and a 1999 graduate of Georgetown University.

Lynn Cohn

Lynn CohnLynn Cohn is a Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Center on Negotiation and Mediation at Northwestern Law. She has developed and taught courses in negotiation, mediation, mediation advocacy, policing, conflict management and problem solving. As an arbitrator or mediator, she has worked in over 2000 cases with an emphasis on employment, Title IX, and commercial disputes. She has also trained lawyers, real estate professionals, management and union representatives, government employees, community groups and corporate employees in effective negotiation, mediation, conflict management and arbitration techniques. Her practice is national and international in scope and includes projects in Brazil, Israel, Abu Dhabi, South Africa, Ghana, London, Paris, Milan, Central America, Ireland and Puerto Rico. Among her many honors, she has been elected to the Leading Lawyers Network in the categories of ADR Commercial and ADR Employment and the National Association of Distinguished Neutrals. Cohn received her BA from the University of Illinois in Political Science and Spanish and JD from Northwestern University School of Law.

John Conroy

John ConroyJohn Conroy is Senior Investigator at the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern Law, where he works on wrongful conviction and civil rights cases. He previously worked as Director of Investigations of the DePaul Legal Clinic and taught Fact Investigation at the DePaul University College of Law. In his previous career as an investigative reporter he won numerous awards and his work was published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, Mother Jones, the Village Voice, The Nation, the Chicago Reader and Chicago Magazine.  He is the author of two books, Belfast Diary: War as a Way of Life and Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People: The Dynamics of Torture, and the play My Kind of Town, published in 2015, which premiered at Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre in May 2012. The play is set against the backdrop of the Chicago police torture scandal, which he was instrumental in exposing.

Terry Dohrmann

Terry DohrmannTerry Dohrmann is the Chief Revenue Officer and one of the founding executives at Litify, a software platform that is transforming the legal landscape. He oversees Sales and Marketing for the business and sits on the Board of Directors for Litify.org, their non-profit entity. Dohrmann has been in technology sales for over 20 years with various leadership positions at Salesforce, Seagate/Evault and British Telecom. His passion lies in providing solutions to clients that drive unparalleled success and empowers them to create an amazing experience for their customers. Dohrmann is a graduate of Fordham University and resides in New Jersey with his wife and five children.  

Janine L. Hoft

Janine HoftJanine L. Hoft is a partner at the People’s Law Office. She has advocated for progressive activists, representing members of the Pledge of Resistance, anti-apartheid organizations, the Shadow Project, the Sanctuary Movement, ACT-UP, Queer Nation, ADAPT, ACORN, Occupy, and IYJL. Hoft has also represented survivors of false arrest, police brutality, illegal strip searches, families of loved ones who have died in law enforcement custody, and survivors of sexual abuse in civil suits against their perpetrators. Over the course of practicing civil rights law for more than 30 years, she has secured seven figure verdicts and settlements. In 1994, she took a three-year sabbatical to direct the Public Interest Law Firm, a clinical program of the Syracuse University College of Law. She currently resides on the Northwest side of Chicago with her spouse, Linda.

Eddie T. Johnson

Eddie JohnsonEddie T. Johnson was appointed Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department in April of 2016 and commands the second largest police agency in the United States. With nearly three decades of service to the City of Chicago, Superintendent Johnson was appointed to implement systemic reforms around police accountability, transparency and build a culture within the Department to strengthen public trust and reduce gun violence. In his brief time as Superintendent, he has charted the Department in a new direction centered around community policing and high levels of integrity and professional standards. He developed a comprehensive violence reduction strategy which will add nearly 1,000 police officers to the streets of Chicago and invested in technology so officers can police smarter and more effectively. Johnson also championed a comprehensive policy agenda to create a culture of accountability in the criminal justice system for repeat gun offenders, who drive the majority of Chicago violence, with the passage of the Safe Neighborhoods Reform Act. The legislation, which was signed into law in 2017 and goes into effect in 2018, guides judges to sentence repeat violent offenders at the higher end of the existing sentencing range. He joined the Department in May of 1988 and has served the majority of his career within the Detective Division and Gang/Tactical units and Patrol Bureau where he rose to the rank of Chief. Johnson is a member of the Executive Board of NOBLE’s Chicago Chapter, the St. Jude Board of Directors, and the Chicago Police Memorial Foundation Assistance Committee. He has received a number of policing awards – including department commendations, Chicago Defender Men of Excellence Award, and others. Johnson has his B.A. from Governors State University, and is expecting his Masters in Public Policy and Administration, with a specialization in Public Safety and National Security, from Northwestern University. Johnson is a Chicago native who grew up in Cabrini Green until he was nine years old, at which point his family moved to the City's south side where he continues to reside.

Jamie Kalven

Jamie KalvenJamie Kalven is the author of Working With Available Light: A Family’s World After Violence and the editor of A Worthy Tradition: Free Speech in America by his father Harry Kalven, Jr. He has reported extensively on police abuse in Chicago and was the plaintiff in Kalven v. Chicago, in which the Illinois appellate court ruled that police misconduct files are public information. His reporting first brought the police shooting of Laquan McDonald to public attention. He is the recipient of the 2015 George Polk Award for Local Reporting, the 2016 Ridenhour Courage Prize, and the 2017 Hillman Prize for Web Journalism.

Ari P. Kornhaber

Ari KornhaberAri P. Kornhaber, Esq. is a Co-Founder & the Executive Vice President of Esquire Bank (Nasdaq - ESQ), a federally charted commercial bank that focuses on servicing the unique financial needs of lawyers, law firms and their clients, with a special affinity towards the trial lawyers of America. Prior to forming Esquire Bank, he was a plaintiffs’ trial lawyer in New York City with the law firm of Napoli, Kaiser and Bern, where he specialized in personal injury, medical malpractice and mass tort litigation.  Over the last seventeen years, Kornhaber has spoken about financing, banking and the evolution of the business of law, as well as the ethical issues surrounding the same, at numerous seminars and conferences across the country. 

Era Laudermilk

Era LaudermilkEra Laudermilk is the Deputy of Policy & Strategic Planning for the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender. Prior to joining the Public Defender’s Office, she was the Deputy Director at the Illinois Justice Project (ILJP), a non-profit organization that engages the public in the development of juvenile justice and criminal justice policies and works with key stakeholders to raise awareness about violence prevention and criminal justice systems reforms. She also staffed the Illinois Juvenile Justice Leadership Council, a statewide body of leaders in the juvenile justice system. Laudermilk has also served as the Chief of Staff for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, where she oversaw the general management of the agency, including policy, programs, operations, personnel and legislative matters. Prior to joining IDJJ, she was Associate General Counsel to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, where she managed the clemency process on his behalf, and provided guidance to state agencies on various legal, legislative, policy and operations issues. From 2009 to 2011, Laudermilk was an Assistant Attorney General in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Her career working in the criminal justice arena began in 2006, when she joined Hooks Law Offices, PC, in Chicago. Laudermilk is an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University College of Law, where she teaches courses in criminal law drafting as well as basic legal research and writing. She earned her BA in Political Science from Miami University and her JD from the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Illinois. 

Andrea Lyon

Andrea LyonAndrea Lyon was appointed as Dean of Valparaiso University Law School in July of 2014 and served as Dean until June 2018. Formerly, she was a Clinical Professor of Law, Associate Dean of Clinical Programs, and Director of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases. She began her career at the Cook County Public Defenders’ Office in the Felony Trial Division, Post-Conviction/Habeas Corpus Unit, Preliminary Hearing/First Municipal (Misdemeanor) Unit and the Appeals Division. Her last position there was Chief of the Homicide Task Force, a 22-lawyer unit representing persons accused of homicides. She has tried over 130 homicide cases, defended more than 30 potential capital cases at the trial level and has taken 19 through penalty phase; she won all 19. In 1990, she founded the Illinois Capital Resource Center and served as its Director until joining the University of Michigan Law School faculty as an Assistant Clinical Professor in 1995. A winner of the prestigious National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Reginald Heber Smith Award for Best Advocate for the Poor in the Country, she is a nationally recognized expert in the field of death penalty defense and a frequent continuing legal education teacher throughout the country. In January of 2015 she was awarded Operation Push’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Lyndon B. Johnson Dream-Makers Award. In June 2017, she was awarded the Abner J. Mikva Award by the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. Lyon received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and her law degree from Antioch School of Law.

Reuven Moskowitz

Reuven MoskowitzReuven Moskowitz is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Litify, the world’s first true platform solution for law firms. His experience includes being the Chief Operating Officer of Morgan & Morgan, managing Morgan & Morgan’s operations, including 30 offices throughout the country, over 400 attorneys and more than 2,000 total employees. Prior to joining Morgan and founding Litify, Moskowitz was a Senior Director of Mobile for Shutterfly. He oversaw all mobile for Shutterfly after successfully selling his startup, Penguin Digital, to the company. He was also the founder of a consumer analytics startup, OneReceipt, which he sold to Ebates. Moskowitz is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Fairleigh Dickinson University. At Columbia, he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar in recognition of his outstanding academic achievements.

Jabari Parker

Jabari ParkerJabari Parker is one of Chicago’s basketball legends. He grew up on Chicago’s south side and attended Simeon High School where he won four consecutive State Titles. He was a two-time Illinois Mr. Basketball honoree as well as the Gatorade National Player of the Year his senior year of high school. He went on to play one year at Duke University where he was named a consensus first-team All-American. He was drafted with the 2nd overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft to the Milwaukee Bucks where he continued to be an impactful player on the court. He is now a member of the Chicago Bulls after signing with them during this summer’s free agency. Throughout his NBA career, Parker has been nominated for the NBA Cares Community Assist award as well as won the Baird Community Involved Athlete of the Year at the Wisconsin Sports awards. He spearheaded a program with the Milwaukee Public Schools to encourage students to own their future and stay in school. He made multiple school visits throughout the season to speak with and mentor students. Parker contributed several articles to The Player’s Tribune, including a powerful piece about his experience growing up with the gun violence in Chicago.

Father Michael Pfleger

Rev Michael PflegerRev. Dr. Michael Louis Pfleger has lived and ministered in the African-American community on both the west and south sides of Chicago since 1968. He spent two summers working in a Native American community in Oklahoma, and did his seminary internship as a Chaplin at Cook County Jail and at Precious Blood Catholic Church, both in Chicago. He is the founder of the Employment Resource Center, the Ark Youth Center, Saint Sabina Social Service Center, Thea Bowman Spiritual Advance Center, Samaritan House for the homeless, Saint Sabina 80-unit Elders Village and the Beloved Community, Inc. In the course of his extensive and active ministry, Pfleger has been recognized for his commitment to equality and passionate stance against injustice. He has been featured in People, Time, Ebony, Newsweek and Jet magazines; The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, U.S.A. Today, The Chicago Tribune, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Reader and numerous other papers and journals. He has also been profiled on Day One, 60 Minutes, the Larry King Show, Nightline, and the BBC. Pfleger received his BA in Theology from Loyola University, his Master of Divinity from the University of St. Mary of the Lake and an honorary Doctor of Divinity from North Park Theological Seminary. He has also completed post-graduate studies at Mundelein College and the Catholic Theological Union.

Antonio M. Romanucci

Antonio RomanucciAntonio M. Romanucci is a principal and partner in the Chicago-based law firm of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, where he focuses his practice on catastrophic personal injuries arising from police misconduct cases, including civil rights actions, medical malpractice, construction and other workplace accidents, and nursing home negligence. He’s been widely recognized for his insight and experience in police brutality, traumatic brain injuries, and related legal issues and has appeared on CNN, CBS This Morning, and Chicago’s ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX. Additionally, he contributes to stories regularly in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press and others. Outside the courtroom, Romanucci participates in many professional and charitable organizations. He is a founding chairman of the Midwest Brain Injury Clubhouse, which is devoted to optimizing the lives and recovery of people affected by brain injuries or strokes, and currently serves as President-Elect of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, Vice President of the Judicial Accountability PAC on the Illinois Supreme Court Rules Committee, and in multiple leadership roles for the American Association for Justice. He is also the founder of the Justinian Society of Lawyers Charitable Endowment Fund, where thousands of dollars are awarded annually to needy organizations. Romanucci earned his BA in psychology from the University of Wisconsin in 1982 and his law degree from John Marshall Law School in 1985.

Neal Sáles-Griffin

Neal Sales-GriffinNeal Sáles-Griffin is an entrepreneur, teacher, and nonprofit leader. He is also running for mayor of Chicago where he was born, raised, and still lives. Sáles-Griffin loves solving meaningful problems and helping people make progress. He attended Northwestern University, where he became student body president. After graduating, he went on to work in venture capital, an experience that inspired him to teach himself to code. Sáles-Griffin co-founded The Starter League, one of the first beginner-focused in-person coding schools and first tenants of 1871, Chicago’s technology hub. Today, he is the CEO of CodeNow, a national nonprofit serving low-income students. Every Monday morning, he returns to the neighborhood where he grew up to teach students how to solve problems in their own communities with technology.

Jeanette Samuels

Jeanette SamuelsJeanette Samuels is a civil rights attorney and the founder and principal at Samuels & Associates, Ltd. Notable cases include Campbell v. City of Chicago, a federal class action lawsuit seeking a consent decree to oversee the Chicago Police Department; and People v. Jason Van Dyke wherein she disqualified the Cook County State’s Attorney and had a special prosecutor appointed for the unjustified murder of Laquan McDonald. Ms. Samuels serves on the Board of Directors for the Legal Assistance Foundation; is a volunteer attorney with the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, which reviews allegations of police torture; and provides pro bono legal advice and services to various Chicago-area community organizations. When not working, she regularly speaks to students and community organizations on a number of topics, including civil rights, voting, and the importance of education. Ms. Samuels graduated from University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Juris Doctorate from Chicago Kent College of Law. 

Eliza Solowiej

Eliza SolowiejEliza Solowiej is Executive Director of the unique nonprofit First Defense Legal Aid, which deploys attorneys to represent people arrested or detained by Chicago police, free of charge, since 1995. As a Chicago Community Trust fellow, she traveled to domestic and foreign jurisdictions that provide for the human and civil right to counsel upon arrest. During her tenure, FDLA constituents have successfully brought Chicago police’s practice of incommunicado detention to the attention of celebrities, the broader public, and policy makers including Chicago's City Counsel, the Cook County Board, the Illinois General Assembly, the Department of Justice and the United Nations. She is additionally a management consultant and training and technical assistance provider for nonprofit, government and business accountability for human rights. She is an engaged parent and mentor on the southside of Chicago. Solowiej holds a JD from the John Marshall Law School, a BA in US History from the University of Chicago, and completed post-grad leadership programs at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and the University of Chicago’s Booth and Harris Schools.

Juliet Sorensen

Juliet SorensenJuliet Sorensen is the Associate Dean for Clinical Education, and the Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic. She is a founder of the Northwestern Access to Health Project, an interdisciplinary partnership that analyzes access to health in resource limited settings. In 2015, Sorensen was appointed to the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights Working Group on Crimes Against Humanity. From 2003-2010, she was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, focusing on fraud and public corruption. Prior to her work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, she worked as a litigation associate and a federal judicial clerk in Boston. She was also a maternal and child health volunteer with the U.S. Peace Corps in Morocco from 1995 to 1997. She received her BA in politics from Princeton University and her JD from Columbia University School of Law.

Andrew Stroth

Andrew StrothAndrew M. Stroth is the Managing Partner of Action Injury Law Group, (www.actioninjurylawgroup.com), a results-driven, national civil rights law firm which litigates Section 1983 lawsuits on behalf of victims of unjustified police shootings, excessive force and police misconduct. Stroth has worked with the Bluhm Legal Clinic, The Center on Wrongful Convictions and as an Adjunct Professor in the Negotiations Program at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. In 2016, he created the Truth, Hope and Justice Initiative, a social justice movement and digital media project developed to share the stories of mothers and families across the country who have been impacted by police violence. On May 10, 2018, the Truth, Hope and Justice Initiative led a group of over 100 mothers to march on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. and met with Members of Congress to advocate for police reform and new legislation in America. Stroth is also the President of Impact Talent Associates, a sports and entertainment management firm and Of Counsel to Handler & Thayer, a corporate and transactional law firm. Prior to serving as the President of Impact Talent Associates, he was the Director of Business Development & Strategy of SC Investments Consulting, the Executive Vice President of CSMG Sports, the Managing Director of DTO Sports and a Client Services Executive at the Leo Burnett Company.  Stroth is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduate of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. He is a member of Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s South Side.  

Andre Stuart

Andre StuartAndre Stuart is CEO of 21st Century Forensic Animations, the oldest independent forensic animation firm in the world. He is one of the pioneers of forensic animation, creating his first in 1988. Over the last 28 years, his firm has created thousands of animations for clients across the globe. These cases have ranged from motor vehicle, product liability, electrocution, construction, rail accidents, airplane and helicopter crashes, petrochemical, architectural, explosions, fires, patent, premise, floods, hurricanes, architectural, toxic tort, officer-involved shooting, mass catastrophic shooting, death penalty, capital murder and war crimes. Stuart has been recognized as an expert in forensic animation in civil and criminal courts including federal, state, and local jurisdictions. He is an ardent advocate of sharing knowledge to benefit all who are involved in the forensic fields to further the cause of justice.

Flint Taylor

Flint TaylorFlint Taylor is a founding partner of the People’s Law Office in Chicago, which has been dedicated to litigating civil rights, police violence, government misconduct, and death penalty cases for 49 years. Among the landmark cases that he has litigated are the Fred Hampton Black Panther case; the Greensboro, North Carolina case against the Ku Klux Klan and Nazis; the Ford Heights Four; and a series of cases arising from a pattern and practice of police torture and cover-up by former Chicago police commander Jon Burge, former Mayor Richard M. Daley, former State’s Attorney Richard Devine, and numerous other police and government officials. Taylor is a longtime National Lawyers Guild member, a founding editor of the Police Misconduct and Civil Rights Law Reporter, has extensively written and lectured in the field of civil rights litigation, the FBI’s illegal COINTELPRO program, and police torture, and frequently appears on radio and television and at other public forums to discuss these topics. He has authored five law review articles on these subjects, and his articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun Times, The Nation, In These Times, the Huffington Post, Truthout, and Portside. He is a graduate of Brown University and Northwestern University School of Law. 

Alexa Van Brunt

Alexa Van BruntSince 2010, Alexa Van Brunt has served as a civil rights attorney and clinical professor at the MacArthur Justice Center at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where she has litigated law enforcement misconduct and torture cases, challenged the use of cash bond in pretrial administration, and brought a first-of-its-kind excessive force class action suit against the Chicago Police Department. She has also won suits addressing conflicts of interest within the Cook County State's Attorney’s Office and the violation of prisoners’ rights in Illinois correctional facilities. Recently, Van Brunt and her colleagues settled two class action cases in which the State of Illinois agreed to appoint lawyers to people facing the revocation of their parole. She is the recipient of the Illinois Voters of Illinois Independent Precinct Organization “Legal Eagle” award for her work on the David Koschman case, and the Award for Excellence from the Northern District of Illinois for her work on parole reform. Van Brunt clerked for the Hon. Myron Thompson, U.S. District Court – Middle District of Alabama and received a law degree, with distinction, from Stanford Law School. 

Kim Yuracko

Kim YurackoKimberly Yuracko is the Dean of Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and Judd and Mary Morris Leighton Professor of Law. She served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Faculty and Research from October 2009 through December 2010 and as Interim Dean from January 2011 through December 2011. Her primary research interests are in antidiscrimination law with a focus on sex discrimination in employment and gender equity in education. She teaches courses in employment law, property, and family law. Her book Perfectionism and Contemporary Feminist Values was published in 2003 by Indiana University Press. She is also a co-author of the casebook Feminist Jurisprudence: Cases and Materials and is the author of numerous articles. She earned her BA, JD and PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. 

Marny Zimmer

Marny ZimmerMarny Zimmer is the Director of Policy at the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. Prior to heading the Policy Department, Zimmer was the Supervisor of the Gun Crimes Strategies Unit, a newly created unit using an Intelligence Driven Prosecution Model to target the people and places involved in violence in Chicago's most crime-ridden neighborhoods. She worked with the Department of Justice at the United States London Embassy assisting U.S. and U.K. law enforcement in obtaining evidence in order to advance investigations, and researched evidence-based policing strategies for the London Mayor's Office on Policing and Crime and the United Kingdom House of Lords. She began her prosecutorial career as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago focused on drug trafficking and gang cases. Zimmer earned a Master's Degree in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 2014, a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School in 2002, and a B.S. from the University of Notre Dame in 1994. She currently serves on the boards of Growing Home, Inc. and the National Public Radio Foundation.

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