DePaul University College of Law

DePaul University College of Law is proud to house 13 centers and institutes. These specialized academic units are dedicated to teaching, research, advocacy, student placement, and public education and engagement across a wide range of disciplines.

Currently, the College of Law is home to the following centers and institutes:

At one level these centers and institutes operate as academic "think-tanks," but in reality, they are much more. A unique characteristic of our centers and institutes is how they serve as vehicles to engage our professors with the world outside DePaul. For example, the International Human Rights Law Institute not only provides specialized courses and student fellowships at the College of Law, but also has pioneered groundbreaking human rights investigations throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia for nearly two decades. Recently, it played a key role in establishing the International Criminal Court and rebuilding the Iraqi law school system.

All of our centers and institutes have similar records of community involvement and outreach. Their activities are pursued locally, nationally and globally, and the impressive and wide range of faculty interests is reflected in the kinds of centers and institutes they have created.

Broadly speaking, four primary academic disciplines--intellectual property law, public interest law, international and comparative law, and business and commercial law--underlie the work of our centers and institutes. While these four categories indicate the primary areas of specialization of the centers and institutes, each engages in activities that encompass and transcend several areas of specialization.

Intellectual Property

DePaul's Center for Intellectual Property Law and Information Technology (CIPLIT®) has created one of the most imaginative and successful intellectual property programs in the nation. While the center is primarily focused on the business and commercial dimensions of intellectual property law, it also serves a specific public interest function through its very successful intellectual property legal clinic for authors, artists, musicians and entrepreneurs.

Public Interest

The College of Law's strong public service mission is reflected most prominently in six units, the Center for Animal Law, the Center for Law & Science, the Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center, the Center for Justice in Capital Cases, the Center for Public Interest Law and the Health Law Institute.

International & Comparative Law

Our public service mission also is manifested in the worldwide work of the International Human Rights Law Institute and International Weapons Control Center, which, together with the Asian Legal Studies Institute and the International Aviation Law Institute, were established by faculty teaching in DePaul's nationally recognized International & Comparative Law Program.

Business & Commercial Law

The field of business and commercial law also is well represented in the work of the Center for Dispute Resolution, CIPLIT®, the Health Law Institute, the International Aviation Law Institute and the Asian Legal Studies Institute. The Health Law Institute, while developing a recognized expertise in the business aspects of health care delivery in the United States, lately has focused its public outreach activities on the ethics of reproductive medicine.

We welcome your interest in the College of Law's centers and institutes and, after studying their respective Web pages, invite you to contact any of the center and institute directors and administrators for further information.