Civitas
ChildLaw
Center
Last year’s highlights
The annual
Children’s Legal Rights Journal
symposium focused this year on the challenges
faced by undocumented children and families in the US. At the symposium, Howard
Davidson, executive director of the ABA Center on Children and the Law, received the
inaugural Leadership in Child Advocacy award for his tireless work on behalf of children’s
well-being. Spring successes in the Illinois General Assembly included adoption of two
pieces of legislation in which center students and faculty played a pivotal role: amend-
ments to the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act and the Juvenile Court Act.
The center welcomed new Postgraduate Fellows Alexandra Fung and Amy Meek, while
former Salisbury Fellow Miranda Johnson became associate director of the Education
Law and Policy Institute headed by Associate Dean Michael Kaufman. (Read about child
law clinic accomplishments on page 14.)
Faculty excellence
Bruce Boyer, director of the Civitas ChildLaw Clinic, received a Public Interest Award
from Northwestern University Law School in recognition of his outstanding work on
behalf of children over the course of his career. Anita Weinberg, director of Loyola’s
ChildLaw Policy Institute, was honored by the Family Defense Center at its annual
benefit in September. The center is a nonprofit organization that provides support for
families and children involved in the child welfare system. Weinberg is a founding board
member. Stacey Platt, associate director of the Civitas ChildLaw Clinic, participated as a
lecturer at the National Institute for Trial Advocacy training for advocates representing
survivors of domestic violence. (Also see page 17 for an update on Diane Geraghty.)
What’s next
Two ChildLaw Fellows were recently awarded prestigious fellowships. Brenda McKinney
(JD ’13) was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study conflict resolution in cases of
youthful offending in New Zealand. She has deferred the scholarship until next spring so
that she can intern with the Office of the White House Counsel this fall. Jenny Denny
(JD ’13) was named a Presidential Management Fellow. The
Children’s Legal Rights Journal
is transitioning to an open-source online journal available free of charge to a worldwide
audience, with the first issue going live in August.
CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE
From classroom instruction and clinical practice to research and policymaking,
the Civitas ChildLaw Center serves our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
Diane Geraghty, Loyola’s A. Kathleen Beazley Chair in Children’s
Law, leads the Civitas ChildLaw Center in providing a wide range
of curricular and extracurricular opportunities for students who
seek specialized training in child and family law. These offerings,
the most comprehensive available at any law school, equip stu-
dents with interdisciplinary knowledge and practical skills they
will use throughout their professional careers. Components of
the center include the ChildLaw and Policy Institute, Education
Law and Policy Institute, International Child Rights Initiative, and
Civitas ChildLaw Clinic. The center also collaborates with Loyola’s
interdisciplinary Center on the Human Rights of Children.
21
STUDENTS WERE AWARDED A
CHILDLAW FELLOWSHIP
DURING
THE 2012–13 ACADEMIC YEAR.
8
L O Y O L A U N I V E R S I T Y C H I C A G O S C H O O L O F L A W
2 0 1 2 – 1 3 D E A N ’ S A N N U A L R E P O R T
9
