Diversity Matters

The newsletter of the ISBA’s Diversity Leadership Council

2015 Articles

The ACLU’s Illinois Judicial Bypass Coordination Project By Mary F. Petruchius June 2015 The ACLU’s Judicial Bypass Coordination Project provides minors with information about the state’s parental notice law for those seeking abortions and assistance in obtaining what is called a “judicial bypass.”
Affirmative action, then and now By Julianne Gerding June 2015 A history of affirmative action in the U.S.
Defining personhood under the Illinois Gender Violence Act: A summary of the Illinois Gender Violence Act and whether its applicability extends to entities, corporations and municipalities By Catherine D. Battista & Priti Nemani June 2015 To date, no Illinois court has ruled that liability under the Act is limited to natural persons. As a result, courts are tasked to consider the statutory language of the Act and whether it may be inclusive of corporate defendants.
Editor’s note By Sandra Blake June 2015 A message from Editor Sandra Blake.
Holt v. Hobbs: The compelling interest standard and religious dress and grooming exemptions By Priti Nemani June 2015 In a political climate where the delicate interests of religion and government continue to collide both domestically and internationally, the Holt decision renews the promise of the First Amendment by demonstrating that all Americans, even prison inmates, are entitled to the right to freely exercise religious beliefs and by reminding our courts to review challenges to this essential American freedom with a particularly careful eye.
Immigration reform and diversifying your workforce By Edward N. Druck & Tejas Shah June 2015 Recent executive actions enacted by the President and the Department of Homeland Security are estimated to collectively provide work authorization to 4 million undocumented individuals across the U.S., and impact hundreds of thousands of individuals in the state of Illinois alone.
The inadvertent advocacy of a transgender litigant By Vera Sarilyn Verbel June 2015 The author shares her experience as a party in the Illinois court system.
2 comments (Most recent June 16, 2015)
Making airports nursing friendly: Senate Bill 0344 —“Lactation Accommodation in Airports Act” By Emily N. Masalski June 2015 If passed by the Illinois House and signed by the Governor, the Act will require Illinois airports that conduct commercial operations of more than 1,000,000 enplanements a year to update airport facilities on or before January 1, 2017, to provide a clean and private place for nursing mothers to express breast milk.
Meet the Diversity Fellows June 2015 Please welcome KiKi Mosley, Hellin Jang and Inez Toledo, who were selected from the Fellows nominees.
Pioneers and prosecutor honored at the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois Gala 2015 By Hon. Mark J. Lopez, Emily N. Masalski, & Spiridoula Mavrothalasitis June 2015 On May 14, 2015, the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois held its 2015 Spring Gala at Prairie Production in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood.
Race and the Law Symposium June 2015 A summary of this program, which took place in March.
Remembering Selma: The unfinished journey June 2015 Fifty years after the Selma Freedom March, Loyola University Chicago’s Baum lecture featured Adrienne Y. Bailey, PhD., a senior consultant with Panasonic Foundation and one of the students who participated in that life-changing event.
Sonni Choi Williams: 2015 ISBA Diversity Leadership Award recipient June 2015 At the ISBA Awards Luncheon on June 19, 2015, Sonni Choi Williams, Deputy Corporation Counsel for the City of Peoria, will be awarded the 2015 ISBA Diversity Leadership Award.
Standing Committee on Disability Law By Phil Milsk June 2015 An update on the Committee's recent activities from Chair Phil Milsk.
Standing Committee on Racial & Ethnic Minorities and the Law By Cory White June 2015 Committee Chair Cory White provides an update on the Committee's activities.
Standing Committee on Women and the Law By Letitia Spunar-Sheats June 2015 An update from Committee Chair Letitia Spunar-Sheats.
Tenth Annual 2015 Midwest LGBTQ Law Conference June 2015 A recap of this year's conference.
Whistling Dixie not the smartest trial strategy, nor racially sensitive, nor consistent with due process and equal protection By Paul J. Glaser June 2015 Prosecutors say the darnedest things in closing arguments, and sometimes those things amount to reversible error.