Play by Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr., offers attorneys innovative way to earn continuing legal education credits

"Giving Ground," a play by IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law professor and playwright Henry H. Perritt, Jr., is more than a whodunit full of murder, mayhem, political corruption and shady corporate dealings. Premiering May 3 at the James R. Thompson Center Auditorium in Chicago, the play is also a carefully crafted program through which Illinois attorneys can earn Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) credit. The performance of "Giving Ground" is co-sponsored by IIT Chicago-Kent's Office of Continuing Legal Education, The Artistic Home Theater and the Chicago Bar Association's Young Lawyers Section. 

"Giving Ground" is the story of a second-year associate at a Chicago law firm who is enlisted by a senior partner to help with a commercial dispute involving a questionable Internet firm. The associate works with a colleague to better understand the financial issues in the case. When an assistant state's attorney who is investigating the Internet company is murdered, the young attorneys must navigate a maze of bankruptcy law, electronic surveillance, and legal ethics as they try to keep from becoming the killer's next victims.

The CLE program includes both a performance of the play and a discussion of more than 30 ethical and substantive legal issues woven into the plot in a manner to entertain both lawyers and lay people. In accordance with Illinois MCLE requirements, "Giving Ground" has been structured into four 20-minute acts, each followed by a 40-minute intermission during which a moderated discussion will ensue of the ethical and substantive legal issues presented in the preceding act. Attorneys licensed to practice in Illinois are required to maintain certain standards of professional competence through participation in MCLE programs during a two-year period. Attorneys who attend the May 3 performance of "Giving Ground" and participate in the discussion are eligible to receive four hours of MCLE credit, with two hours of professional responsibility credit.

While the legal issues in "Giving Ground" involve professional responsibility, criminal procedure, bankruptcy law, corporate law and Internet law, Professor Perritt is quick to point out that "This is not a law lecture masquerading as a play. It is an example of a way to make mandatory CLE more engaging."

A member of the IIT Chicago-Kent faculty since 1997, Professor Perritt served as dean of the law school between 1997 and 2002. His scholarly interests include employment law, international relations, cyberlaw, entertainment and technology, and the rule of law in the Balkans.

Professor Perritt's play "You Took Away My Flag," a musical about Kosovo, originally played to sold-out houses at Chicago's Strawdog Theatre in June 2009. It reopened with a new cast and songs for an eight-week run at Theatre Building Chicago the following year. His other new play, "Airline Miles," had a workshop production to a standing-room only audience at The Artistic Home on November 13, 2011, and is reopening in August of this year. Several roles in "Giving Ground" were filled last December in a cast auction at the Chicago Bar Association.

"Giving Ground" will be performed at the James R. Thompson Center Auditorium. The performance begins at 3 p.m. For more information or to register, please contact the Chicago Bar Association at seminars@chicagobar.org. For more information about the play, please visit www.givinggroundplay.com/home.html.

IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, science, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.