The John Marshall Law School Faculty Receive Writing Honors

CHICAGO, May 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Professors from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago have been honored for their writing with accolades from journalism and civic organizations.

William McGrath, Timothy P. O'Neill and Ann Lousin all have been honored by organizations that recognize the best writing and journalism work throughout Chicago and the state.

McGrath won a 2015 Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club for Best Commentary. The Lisagors honor the best journalism in the Chicago area and the Chicago Headline Club is the largest Society of Professional Journalists chapter in the country. McGrath won for his columns analyzing current affairs intellectual property issues for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. All three professors were named Lisagor finalists for their Law Bulletin columns, dominating the Best Commentary category.

Days earlier, O'Neill was honored at the Chicago Bar Association's 2015 Herman Kogan Media Awards with a Meritorious Achievement Award, for his Law Bulletin column on the detrimental effects of discrimination in the justice system. The Illinois State Historical Society awarded Lousin a Certificate of Excellence for her Law Bulletin pieces on restorative justice and flaws with state constitutional amendments.

John Marshall has a reputation for producing sharp legal writers. The law school's faculty members serve as leaders within the country's top legal writing groups and students gain effective writing skills through John Marshall's rigorous Lawyering Skills and Legal Writing program. The school's Legal Writing program was been ranked in the top five in the country by U.S. News & World Report for multiple years in a row.

About McGrath

William T. McGrath is a member in the Chicago law firm of Davis McGrath LLC. He has practiced in the fields of intellectual property and business litigation since 1976. His primary areas of concentration are copyright, trademark, and computer law, as well as entertainment law, trade secret law, and other matters relating to the high-tech and information industry. He is Associate Director of John Marshall's Center for Intellectual Property, Information & Privacy Law and teaches copyright law.

About Lousin

Ann Lousin was a research assistant at the Sixth Illinois Constitutional Convention, where she worked on the drafting of the 1970 Illinois constitution. From 1971 to 1975, she was on the staff of the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, including two years as Parliamentarian of the House. She teaches sales transactions at John Marshall, where she has taught since 1975.

About O'Neill

Timothy P. O'Neill teaches criminal law and criminal procedure at John Marshall. His scholarship has been cited in more than 50 federal and state appellate court decisions. In 2006, Chicago Lawyer magazine included him on its list of "10 of the Best Law Professors in Illinois." For more than 20 years, he has published a monthly column on criminal law in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin. He previously has received the Herman Kogan Meritorious Achievement Award for print journalism, as well as been named a Lisagor finalist.