A Message from
Dean Jenn

Dear DePaul Law alumni community:

I hope all of your families are well, and you are taking care of yourselves, mind, body and soul. I need all of you strong to help support each other and our students in the years to come.

The law school is now in week 13 of the semester—all of us teaching, learning and working remotely. Spring exams are just a few weeks away, with all exams take-home and online. Who would have imagined! I am teaching this semester myself, so I am seeing first-hand the ups and downs of remote teaching, as well as the commitment and resilience of our students.

Like many of you, my days are filled with email communications, zoom meetings and decisions big and small, including: planning summer session (also remote), admitting the incoming class, implementing diversity initiatives and building community remotely. Our students are resilient and strong, but many are struggling. They are having difficulties with living arrangements, technology, children, ill family members, mental health issues, loss of income and other barriers to their study and success.

Our staff and faculty are fully committed to taking care of our students during this time. We are DePaul, and we are all in this together. For example, we were awarded $25,000 from AccessLex to create an emergency fund to help students with their basic necessities (and we are adding $10,000 to that fund), and we have created a bar award fund to help graduating students defray their bar expenses. We are creating professional opportunities for our students like summer research assistantships and fellowships, as students begin to feel the effects of reduced employment in the legal market (which I know you are feeling as well).

In the next days and months, our students and recent grads will need the support of our amazing alumni network. I know that you will be there to help our students and recent grads as you can. Together, we will determine "what must be done" for our students' continued success, and do it well.

In the meantime, let us know how you are doing. We appreciate hearing from you on social media or email!

Be well and strong until we see each other again (with social distance, of course).

Dean Jenn

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DePaul Law Alumni Engagement Board: Accepting New Member Applications

The DePaul Law Alumni Engagement Board will be accepting new membership applications for terms starting on July 1. Currently, the board consists of 27 alumni from different practice areas, graduation years and backgrounds. To increase our reach and to gain additional perspectives, we wish to add members to strengthen our mission of support for DePaul Law.

The DePaul Law Alumni Engagement Board is based on the following:

• Open to all College of Law alumni
• Focused on supporting the professional development and career placement opportunities for our current students and recent alumni through volunteering, mentoring, networking and special events
• Serves as ambassadors and advocates for DePaul Law among classmates, colleagues, friends and others in the legal community
• Seeks ways to engage law alumni in alumni activities (although the board is not involved in fundraising and has no dues requirement for membership)

To apply for membership, simply fill out the Board Member Candidate Application.

The deadline to submit an application for membership is Friday, May 1. Any questions or concerns regarding the application process should be sent to depaul_law_alumni@depaul.edu.

DePaul Responds:
Helping Others
Through COVID-19

Inspired by our Vincentian values, the DePaul community is coming together to support those who have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Your gift can help support these efforts:

DePaul Responds: Protective Equipment for Healthcare Workers
DePaul faculty and students are collaborating with groups across the state to create masks using 3-D printers from the Idea Realization Lab.

DePaul Responds: Vincentian Assistance Fund The Vincentian Assistance Fund provides short-term, emergency financial support to members of the DePaul community, including faculty and staff.

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Alumni Spotlight:
Brandon Helms ('07)

Brandon Helms ('07) is an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. We talked to Brandon about his DePaul Law experience and his journey after graduation.

Q. Tell us about your path to DePaul Law and the legal profession?

When I started college, I intended to become a doctor. I enrolled as a chemistry and biology double major at my undergraduate institution, Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. Early on, I realized that I did not enjoy the memorization required for biology. I continued with chemistry because I liked the concepts, but I was not interested in becoming a bench chemist. Trying to figure out my next step, I knew I liked to write and debate, so I added political science as a minor and later applied to law schools. When I started my reading assignments prior to the start of my 1L year, I knew I had made the right decision.

I applied to a number of law schools across the country, but my focus was on Chicago, as I wanted to have a big-city experience. In addition, maximizing scholarships and minimizing student loans were important parts of the decision process. In the end, the choice came down to Indiana University or DePaul. Both were quality law schools that were providing similar financial aid packages, but I wanted to be in Chicago.

Head to our blog to read more, including some of his most notable experiences while at the College of Law and what advice Helms has for today's law students.

Student Spotlight:
Stefani Perez ('20)

Stefani Perez ('20) is the current president of the Student Bar Association (SBA) and the former president of the Latino Law Student Association (LLSA) (2018-2019), and has participated on moot court teams and the student board. Martha Pagliari, director of the College of Law's Legal Analysis, Research & Communication program and faculty advisor to the Moot Court Society, describes her as a "fierce competitor, as well as a wonderful mentor for the newer members of the team. She has been a joy to work with."

Q. What inspired you to go to law school/what did you do before law school?

I realized that I wanted to go to law school in high school. As a student, I took one of those career assessment tests. The first result said 'business,' but the second said 'law or government.' Law sounded more interesting, and my friends were like, 'we can see you as a lawyer,' so it made a lot of sense.

On top of that, growing up, my parents worked in a meatpacking plant. One day during middle school, I came home from school and they were watching a news story about an ICE raid at a meatpacking plant in a neighboring state. The news story also showed hundreds of children whose parents had been arrested by ICE. I remember really wanting to somehow help these people. One way to help people like them who had been affected by ICE was by being an attorney.

As an undergraduate at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (double major in Political Science and Spanish Translation and Interpretation with a minor in Criminal Justice), I was super involved in different organizations. For a while, I thought about going into student affairs and pursuing a degree that would allow me to work with first-generation minority students. Ultimately, I decided I wanted to pursue something within the legal field.

Read the full interview here.

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Deadline Extended:
LRAP 2020

The Loan Repayment Assistance Program application deadline has been extended to May 15.

Please complete the application and email it as a PDF. Please do not mail your application. You need not submit any additional tax or loan documents at this time. The Committee may request additional information and documents as needed.

Please contact Shaye Loughlin at sloughli@depaul.edu with any questions.

Looking for a Clerk or
a Summer Intern? 

Is your office in need of student interns for the summer or attorneys for permanent positions?

Please email DePaul Law Career Services at law_career@depaul.edu, and we can help connect you to our talented pool of law students and alums!

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Upcoming Virtual Alumni Programming