I was a clinical professor at IIT – Chicago Kent College of Law from 1979 through the spring of 1999. I taught in Kent's fee generating criminal defense clinic. I also taught one of the regular sections of evidence. In June 1999, I joined Mayer Brown LLP to establish the firm wide Pro Bono Program. My position was designed to combine pro bono and litigation training. I was the director of Pro Bono activities until the end of 2015. My title is now Pro Bono advisor. I have no administrative responsibilities for the operation of the pro bono program. My current practice is entirely pro bono and is primarily in criminal defense, immigrant and inmate civil right matters.
Rule Of Law Programs
shortly after joining the Firm, one of the senior corporate partners asked for my assistance in opening several pro bono matters. he was active with a program established by the American Bar association called CeeLI (Central and eastern european Law Initiative). he was involved in drafting corporate statutes in several eastern european Counties. I knew nothing about CeeLI or formal rule of law programs. But since Mayer Brown had offices in Europe, I thought that this might provide me with the opportunity to establish pro bono projects for those offices. My first visit to the London office was in conjunction with an invitation to give a speech at one of the first pro bono conferences to be held in England.
Originally published in The Circuit Rider
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