Chicago-Kent Student Elizabeth Tempel Wins 2009 SmithAmundsen Writing Award
The award is part of a $50,000 gift from the firm to help fund the law school’s diversity initiatives.
Chicago, IL, August 28, 2009 – Elizabeth Tempel, a first-year student at Chicago-Kent College of Law, is the recipient of the 2009 SmithAmundsen Excellence in Legal Writing Award. The award is given annually to a first-year student, selected by Chicago-Kent’s legal writing faculty and law firm representatives, who has written the best brief and who “adds to the diversity of the legal community.” Temple won for her appellate brief in a federal case dealing with the validity of a testamentary provision that declares deceased – for purposes of inheritance – any of the testator’s grandchildren who marry outside the Jewish faith unless the spouse has converted or will convert within one year of the marriage. The declaration extends to the descendants of the testator’s grandchildren.
A native of Alaska, Tempel graduated cum laude from the University of Alaska in 2004 with a bachelor of business administration in accounting. A J.D. candidate in Chicago-Kent’s Public Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution certificate program, Tempel is on the Dean’s List and has received awards from the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction for the highest grades in legal writing and in torts during her first year. Tempel has completed judicial externships with the Honorable Ann C. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and with the Honorable Morton Denlow of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois. She also serves as a volunteer at Chicago-Kent’s Self-Help Web Desk in the Richard J. Daley Center.
For two years, Tempel served as a legal assistant in the law offices of Pamela Dale, PC in Anchorage, where she used her language skills to translate for attorneys and Spanish-speaking clients. In addition, she provided paralegal and legal secretarial support and served as case manager for this high-profile criminal defense firm. From 2005 to 2008 Tempel was a legal assistant for the Anchorage firm of Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller & Munson, LLP, where her duties included work on significant tribal government matters, such as the codification of 60 years of tribal resolutions and ordinances, the drafting or revision of tribal election regulations and processes, and cases filed under the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The writing award is part of a $50,000 gift from SmithAmundsen to Chicago-Kent in 2007 to support the law school’s diversity initiatives through 2012. The gift evolved from SmithAmundsen’s Diversity Task Force, a group of representatives from all areas of the firm charged with upholding and advancing firm-wide diversity initiatives. In addition to funding the writing award, the firm’s gift will support the team that represents Chicago-Kent at the Thurgood Marshall National Mock Trial Competition.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Chicago-Kent to facilitate important changes taking place in the legal community,” says Larry Schechtman, SmithAmundsen’s managing partner. “We looked closely at factors that would result in a more diverse pool of talented lawyers to consider when hiring and decided that providing support to students who are excellent writers or are involved in trial advocacy is the best way to do this. We also hope to raise SmithAmundsen’s profile among the most talented new lawyers coming out of Chicago-Kent.”
Click here to view a photo of Larry Schechtman, Elizabeth Tempel, and Harold Krent (IIT/Chicago-Kent Law School Dean).
SmithAmundsen LLC has grown to more than 120 attorneys with offices in Chicago, Rockford, St. Charles, Waukegan, and Woodstock, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. SmithAmundsen’s attorneys share a proficiency in a broad range of practice areas. As one of Chicago’s premier litigation firms, our success is built upon a foundation of integrity, professionalism, and a commitment to exceeding client expectations. For more information on the firm, please visit www.salawus.com.
Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution. Chicago-Kent students come from 42 states, 14 countries, and more than 230 colleges and universities. The law school is consistently recognized for its groundbreaking legal writing program, and its trial advocacy teams have won numerous regional and national tournaments.
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