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Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy presents

Dismantling the Cycle of Domestic Violence through Collaboration of Legal Professionals

Monday, October 30, 2023
5:30 P.M.

Zoom Webinar: https://luc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_suMSl2bvTSuIORjO66x6pw#/registration

Domestic Violence has severe and lasting impacts on all members of a family including those who may have experienced the trauma by observation. Without adequate support and resources provided to these individuals, today’s victim may become tomorrow’s abuser. Our experienced panel will discuss domestic violence cases from the lens of legal professionals with comment on trauma informed prosecutions, services that can help trauma victims cope and recover, and ways prosecutors and public defenders can collaborate in this space in an effort to stop the all too common and vicious victim-to-abuser cycle.

This program has been approved for 1.25 of Illinois MCLE credit. 

The Annual Philip H. Corboy Lecture features prominent speakers on current issues of trial advocacy, and is open to the professional community.  The Corboy Lectures were established as part of the Philip H. Corboy Fellowship program.  The first lectures took place during the 1995-96 academic year.

*Loyola Law Students:  Attendance qualifies as an “Event” towards a Certificate in Advocacy

Agenda

Welcome and Introduction of Panelists
Adrienne Mebane, Interim Director of the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy
Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Trauma Informed Prosecutions
Joseph Muroff, Executive Chief of the Special Victims’ Division
Bronx District Attorney’s Office

Prosecutor’s Perspective
Simon Folkard, Deputy Chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau
Bronx District Attorney’s Office

Public Defender’s Perspective
Takenya Nixon, Assistant Public Defender and Attorney Supervisor
Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender

Moderated Q&A
Honorable Jeanne Wrenn (BA ’93, JD ’01)
Circuit Court of Cook County

Speakers

MODERATOR 

Honorable Jeanne Wrenn (BA ’93, JD ’01), Circuit Court of Cook County

The Honorable Jeanne Wrenn was elected a full-circuit judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County in November 2018. Prior to her election, she was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to serve as a judge. Currently, she is assigned to the Domestic Violence courthouse where she oversees a criminal courtroom. In January 2023, Judge Wrenn started the first ever Mental Health Diversion court call within the Domestic Violence Division. Before being appointed to the bench, she was Senior Director and General Counsel at the National Safety Council. Prior to joining National Safety Council, Ms. Wrenn served as the Ethics & EEO Officer at Pace, the Suburban Bus Company, and as an Executive Assistant State’s Attorney where she represented the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office (CCSAO) on several working groups, task forces and expert panels on a wide array of criminal justice issues.

SPEAKERS

Joseph Muroff, Bronx District Attorney’s Office

Joseph Muroff joined the Office of the Bronx District Attorney in January of 1986, originally as an Assistant District Attorney handling felony matters, including pattern robberies and burglaries, complex narcotics operations, and homicides. Since January 1992, Mr. Muroff has been a Manager in the Bronx DA’s Office, first as a Supervisor in the Office’s Complaint Room and Narcotics’ Bureaus, then as a Deputy Chief in the Criminal Court, Rackets, and Domestic Violence/Sex Crimes Bureaus, and for 10 years as the Chief of the Child Abuse/Sex Crimes Bureau. In January 2017, he became a member of Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark’s Executive Staff, overseeing the Special Victims Division, which consists of the CAS Bureau, the Domestic Violence Bureau, the Human Trafficking Unit and the Office’s Crime Victims’ Advocates Bureau. For the last several years, Mr. Muroff has served as co-chair of the New York State DA’s Association’s Sexual Assault and Family Violence Legislative Subcommittee.

Simon Folkard, Bronx District Attorney’s Office
Simon Folkard is currently the Deputy Chief of the Domestic Violence Bureau.Simon has been in the Domestic Violence Bureau since he joined the Office in October 2009. During his tenure, he has handled all stages of felony and misdemeanor cases, including homicides, rapes, assaults, strangulations, and arsons. In 2017, Mr. Folkard was promoted to Supervisor of the Domestic Violence Bureau where he directly oversees 30-40 Assistant District Attorneys and 20 Professional Staff members. He regularly engages in second seating hearings, trials, and grand jury presentations. In 2020, he created the Special Victims Cyber Crime Initiative and hotline to handle pre-arrest investigations for crimes of Unlawful Dissemination of Intimate Images and other internet based domestic violence. He also sits as a member of the New York City Cyber Sexual Task Force.

Takenya Nixon, Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender
Takenya Nixon has worked as an Assistant Public Defender with the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender for the last 17 years. In addition to representing disenfranchised members of her community, she is an adjunct professor at DePaul University College of Law, coaching the National Trial Team. Ms. Nixon has devoted her legal career to helping people who have been silenced and abused by a criminal legal system that is far from just. She has experienced the systematic attack on the Black, Latinx, and under resourced communities and vows to fight against it.