FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 24, 2006

CONTACT: Professor Mark Kende, (515) 271-2824, mark.kende@drake.edu
Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119, lisa.lacher@drake.edu

DRAKE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SERIES LOOKS AT CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

The Drake University Law School Constitutional Law Series continues this spring with Emily Buss discussing constitutional issues and children’s rights at 4 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 2, in Cartwright Hall, 27th Street and Carpenter Avenue.

Buss, professor of law and Kanter director of Chicago Policy Initiatives at the University of Chicago Law School, will deliver a lecture titled “Constitutional Fidelity Through Children’s Rights.” The talk is free and open to the public.

As Kanter director of Chicago Policy Initiatives, she heads a two-year project aimed at improving the legal system’s treatment of children arising out of foster care.

Buss received her bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Yale University in 1982 and her law degree from Yale Law School in 1986. After several years of clerking, including a stint with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, Buss worked as a staff attorney in the child advocacy unit of the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau. In 1990, Buss joined the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia and served as the center’s deputy director from 1993-1996.

Buss’s research interests include children’s and parents’ rights and the legal system’s allocation of authority and responsibility regarding parent, child and state. She teaches civil procedure, evidence and courses addressing the law’s treatment of children. She was the faculty director of academic affairs at the University of Chicago Law School from 2001 to 2003.

Future lectures in this series include U.S. District Court Judge Mark Bennett on Wednesday, March 1.

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