Resume

• 1999

  J.D.

  • Dean’s List Spring 2002

  Fall 2001

  Fall 2000.

  Law

  • Senior Editor

  Journal of International Law and Business.

• 1982

  M.A.

  • University Fellowship for outstanding academic achievement.

  Applied Linguistics

• 1977

  B.A.

  • Notre Dame Scholar; Dean’s List every semester.\n• Inaugural Recipient

  Earnest Sandeen Award for Poetry

  1980.\n• Graduated magna cum laude.

  English

  Phi Beta Kappa

• Trials

  Civil Litigation

  Legal Advice

  Human Rights

  Intellectual Property

  Public Speaking

  Arbitration

  Employment Discrimination

  Teaching

  Legal Writing

  Litigation

  International Law

  Editing

  Legal Research

  Commercial Litigation

  Corporate Law

  Research

  U.S. Legal Reasoning

  Writing

  and Practice for International Lawyers

  The book introduces U.S. legal reasoning

  writing

  and research to international lawyers. It teaches them how to analyze legal issues as U.S. lawyers do

  and how to communicate that analysis in the form that U.S. legal readers expect. It also introduces how to research U.S. law

  and describes certain aspects of U.S. law firms and legal culture.

  U.S. Legal Reasoning

  Writing

  and Practice for International Lawyers

  Thornton

  University of Illinois at Chicago

  Jenner & Block LLP

  Northwestern University School of Law

  Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz PC

  Scandaglia & Ryan

  Truman College

  • Lecturer in English as a Second Language (ESL)

  Tutorium in Intensive English

  UIC.\n• Taught 20 to 25 hours per week of academic reading

  writing

  listening

  speaking

  grammar

  and TOEFL test preparation skills to professional and pre-professional adult international students.\n• Taught students critical-thinking and language skills for academic success and counseled them regarding living in the United States and studying in U.S. universities and graduate schools.\n• Chaired and served on committees

  participated in curriculum development

  supervised instructors and interns

  and gave presentations at ESL conferences.

  University of Illinois at Chicago

  Associate Attorney

  • Practiced complex commercial litigation

  including employment discrimination law and appellate litigation.\n• Responsible for: client interaction; brief writing and motion practice; pre-trial and trial preparation; and all aspects of discovery practice

  including taking and defending depositions. \n• Drafted motion for directed verdict resulting in dismissal of three of four remaining counts in $10 million case between two Fortune 500 companies.\n• Represented manufacturer in two discrimination cases before Illinois Human Rights Commission

  winning dismissal in one and negotiating nominal settlement in other.\n• Obtained settlements as appointed counsel on behalf of two discrimination plaintiffs.\n• Obtained foreclosure of large restaurant’s leasehold mortgage.

  Scandaglia & Ryan

  Associate Attorney

  • Practiced complex commercial litigation

  including federal regulatory securities

  advertising

  and telecommunications investigations

  bankruptcy litigation

  and patent arbitration.\n• Responsible for brief writing and motion practice

  trial preparation

  and all aspects of discovery practice

  including taking and defending depositions.\n• First-chaired and won asylum case in Immigration Court.\n• Obtained dismissal of criminal charges against client with mental illness; on team that obtained large civil settlement for detainee against Cook County Jail in headline-making case.

  Jenner & Block LLP

  Northwestern University School of Law

  Northwestern Pritzker School of Law

  Instruct International LL.M. students in the U.S. common law system

  as well as in legal reasoning

  writing

  and research in that system;\nTeach a summer pre-law course to incoming International LL.M. students;\nHave taught contract drafting to J.D. and LL.M. students; \nHave led teams of J.D. students that conducted interviews in Tanzania and produced papers summarizing their research results;\nHave edited a textbook on Ethiopian constitutional law for the ABA's Rule of Law Inititative; and\nPresent frequently at legal conferences in the U.S. and abroad.

  Clinical Associate Professor of Law

  • Taught ESL to adult Indochinese refugees in Truman College Refugee Program.\n• Taught 16 hours per week of language

  literacy

  employment

  and acculturation skills.

  Truman College

  Associate Attorney

  • Practiced complex commercial litigation

  including drafting pleadings and preparing discovery.\n• Drafted motion in limine that led to exclusion of all damages evidence in class-action suit

  and forced plaintiffs to settle for nominal amount.\n• Negotiated settlement of prisoner’s civil rights case.\n• Advised several corporations

  including Fortune 25 retailer

  on records retention and eDiscovery issues and participated in design of records retention programs.

  Vedder Price Kaufman & Kammholz PC

  Global Legal Skills Award

  Award for outstanding contributions to international legal skills education for the book U.S. Legal Reasoning

  Writing

  and Practice for International Lawyers (2014).

  Global Legal Skills Conference