DePaul University College of Law student Sherry H. Joseph, winner of the 2016 National Law Review student writing contest.
Sherry H. Joseph, a DePaul Law student, was recently awarded the National Law Review's 2016 Law Student Writing Competition for her article titled, "Chicago Plastic Bag Ordinance: Incentivizing Consumers to Change Their Plastic Consumption Behavior". Josephs's writings were based on the original Checkout Bag Tax that was first proposed in 2015 with a reworked version going into effect on February 1, 2017. Although skeptical on the original 2015 plastic bag ban proposal, she ultimately wanted to research how effective the ban would be in hopes of creating awareness.
Joseph considers the National Law Review award an important milestone that helped her find a deeper meaning to one of her favorite inspirational quotes: "I learned that people fall down, winners get up, and gold medal winners just get up faster." (Bonnie St. John, first African-American woman medalist in the Paralympics). Relating her achievement to the inspirational quote, Joseph says she "may have fallen, even when I was down, I still succeeded. Now I am back up and standing steady on my feet, and I am fulfilling the promise that I made to my father years prior. I am carrying his name as far as I possibly can."
While finishing her final year of law school, Joseph serves as a judicial extern, a student representative for the Illinois State Bar Association and is the managing editor of the Notes and Comments section for the DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal. She would like to give credit to the staff and faculty at DePaul Law for their encouragement and guidance throughout this experience.