By
Sherry Karabin
Founded on the principle of making a legal education accessible to everyone, Chicago-Kent College of Law recently made its evening J.D. program even more convenient by giving first-year students the chance to take a summer course, and thus lighten their workload in the fall.
"For those attending school part-time, flexibility is key," said Harold J. Krent, dean and a professor at the law school. "These students have so many demands, so the more varied the options the better."
Traditionally, evening students attend classes Monday through Thursday, but those taking the summer course will have their Tuesday evenings free in the fall. This offering started in June.
"The problem that part-time students face is that due to time constraints, they come to the school, take classes and leave, so they miss out on other components of the law school experience," said Krent, who teaches criminal law, the first summer course to be offered to new part-time evening students.
"By giving students the option to keep their Tuesday nights open, we hope some of them might be able to go to court or attend lectures by guest speakers."
The second-oldest law school in the state, Chicago-Kent has its roots in evening education. Begun as Chicago Evening Law Classes by Judges Thomas Moran and Joseph Bailey in the late 1880s, the judges' chambers served as the first classroom. In 1900, it merged with Kent College of Law to form Chicago-Kent College of Law, establishing a full-time day program that was accredited by the American Bar Association in 1936. Today the school is in a state-of-the art building on West Adams Street.
"The new summer program is our way of continuing the tradition of opening our doors to students who could not otherwise go to law school, including African-Americans and women," Krent said. "We have the distinction of graduating Ida Platt, the first African-American woman ever licensed to practice in Illinois, as well as Robert Abbott, who owned the largest African-American newspaper in the country, the Chicago Defender.
"As a teacher, there is a different kind of excitement in the evening program, since the students have greater experience in understanding how the world works, and they bring different insights and concerns to class discussions of legal issues," he said.
Currently, there are about 50 evening students in each entering class, with the majority obtaining a law degree in four years. In addition to the new summer option, after the first year, evening students can also take some day or online classes, giving them even greater flexibility.
There are 23 students enrolled in Krent's summer criminal law class. Brent Whitlock, a patent agent in the intellectual property group of Drinker, Biddle & Reath for the past three years, is among them.
"I am excited about the summer start option," Whitlock said. "By taking a course in the summer before the first year officially begins, and taking a course in the summer after the first spring semester, I can reduce my course load in the fall and spring, so that I can better balance work, school and family. I was also anxious to get started."
While he has a doctorate in electrical engineering, Whitlock has been interested in intellectual property law since he was an undergraduate.
"As a patent agent, I represent clients before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in securing patents to protect their inventions," he said. "Not only do I enjoy the technology aspects of the job, but I also enjoy writing a great deal.
"The job of a patent agent largely involves writing, analyzing inventions and the prior state of the art to determine what is new and inventive, drafting patent applications to claim the inventions, and drafting arguments as to why the inventions are worthy of a patent in response to rejections issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office," Whitlock said. "Once I become a lawyer, I will also be able to offer legal opinions and represent clients in additional legal matters such as licensing and litigation.
"By enrolling in the evening program," he said, "I am not only able to keep my job, which is important from a financial standpoint, because I have a family, but I am also gaining another four years of experience as a patent agent while I am in law school. By keeping my job, I will be in a better position to be employed as an attorney at my firm and will have an edge in the marketplace in general."
Still, not everyone who enrolls in the evening program has worked in the legal field. Enrollees come from a wide variety of backgrounds, with a number of them working in science and engineering, and others as teachers and journalists.
"We take a holistic view of each application," said Nicole Vilches, assistant dean of admissions. "We are looking for people who have a solid academic background and diverse interests. For evening division applicants, we also look closely at their work experience, the types of positions they have held, the level of responsibility and the skills they have developed."
Vilches said the school's nationally recognized research and writing program and its extensive clinical and trial advocacy offerings attract a large number of applicants.
In addition, students have the option to pursue any one of seven specialty areas: Environmental and Energy Law, International and Comparative Law, Intellectual Property Law, Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution, Labor and Employment Law, Public Interest Law or Criminal Litigation.
Kevin M. O'Keefe, a partner at O'Keefe, Lyons & Hynes, graduated from Chicago-Kent's evening program in 1973. He said the trial advocacy portion of the program was one of its greatest assets.
"It helped us move from the purely academic to the practical," O'Keefe said.
"The professors were all very good, but the big difference between night and day was the student body. We had members of the Chicago police department, business owners; we had people working for accounting firms and large banks, and a couple of guys going to school on GI bills. One of our criminal law professors was an appellate court lawyer for the public defender's office, so everyone brought real-life experience to the table, which was missing in the day time," said O'Keefe, who served in various capacities in President Bill Clinton's administration for more than four years.
"I lament any decision by a law school that decides to discontinue its night program, because it is the only way many people can get their degrees. I was working when I enrolled, and I needed to continue to do so to pay tuition, rent and such. Night schools serve a very critical group."
Fay Clayton, a founding shareholder at Robinson, Curley & Clayton, also attended the evening program. She graduated in 1978 after spending three-and-a-half years at Chicago-Kent. When Clayton enrolled, she was teaching at a Montessori pre-school during the day.
"I was looking for intellectual stimulation," said the Evanston resident. "I wanted to take a few courses, but they did not allow anyone to do that, so I had to formally enroll. I didn't expect to become a lawyer, but I was bitten by the law bug.
"I loved the classes and especially the law clinic and moot court. That's where you are a lawyer, whether it's real or imaginary, and I fell in love with it," Clayton said. "I liked the evening program better than days, but I finished my courses during the day so I could get done quicker, because I was eager to practice."
Like O'Keefe, she too enjoyed the older student body that brought different life experiences to the discussion. "I made some lifelong friends there, most of whom were from other professions. I was grateful to the school for its commitment to making the night program equal to the day program. I never felt like a second-class citizen. I would never have gone to law school if not for this program, and I would not be a lawyer today."
For those like Whitlock, who are just beginning their journey, educators promise to continue to look for ways to add even more innovative choices to the program to help them make the most of their experiences at Chicago-Kent.
"It's easier for us to do this now than it was 20 years ago," Krent said.
"There is a trend toward more flexible work schedules, and this lets students consider different options. The enhancements to our evening program represent just one more way for us to follow through on our law school's motto: We take your professional education personally."