Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli to address 2016 Chicago-Kent graduates
1987 alumna will speak at May 15 commencement ceremonies
Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli, a 1987 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech, will deliver the keynote address at the law school's 2016 Commencement on Sunday, May 15, at 2:30 p.m. The ceremony will be held at the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd., in Chicago.
Ms. Campanelli will be joined by two student speakers. Valedictorian Angelo Christopher will deliver the J.D. Commencement address, and Benjamin Mankut, a candidate for an LL.M. in International Intellectual Property Law, will deliver the graduate address. Graduates, their guests and members of the Chicago-Kent community are encouraged to share well wishes and photos on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #ckgrad.
Amy Campanelli was sworn in as Cook County Public Defender in April 2015. She has spent most of her 28-year legal career in the Cook County Public Defender's Office, serving as assistant public defender in the Juvenile Division and Felony Trial Division, attorney supervisor in the Felony Trial Division, chief of the Bridgeview Courthouse, capital case coordinator, deputy chief of the Homicide Task Force, and deputy chief of the Felony Trial Division. From 2012 until her appointment as Cook County Public Defender, she was deputy public defender in charge of all five suburban districts in Cook County.
Angelo Christopher is a candidate for a J.D. degree with a certificate in intellectual property law. He completed his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A member of the law school's Moot Court Honor Society, Christopher and his teammate Lauren Darwit '16 won the National Moot Court Competition's Midwest regional tournament last fall and represented Chicago-Kent at the national finals in New York. After graduation, he will practice patent law as an associate at Nixon Peabody LLP in Chicago.
Benjamin Mankut, a candidate for an LL.M. in International Intellectual Property Law, is a native of Paris, France. He earned a master's degree with honors in private law and a degree in law, economics and finance from the Université Paris I (La Sorbonne) as well as a master's degree with honors in intellectual property from the Université Paris II (Panthéon-Assas). He will take the bar in Paris this summer and plans to work as an attorney in the music industry on behalf of songwriters and artists.
Founded in 1888, Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, a private, technology-focused research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law.
