Ramsin Canon receives the 2013 Marc Grinker Student Commitment Award

Ramsin Canon, a third-year student at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, is the recipient of the 2013 Marc Grinker Student Commitment Award.

The award was created in memory of Professor Marc A. Grinker, a member of the IIT Chicago-Kent faculty from 1990 until his death in 1996. Professor Grinker taught courses in legal writing, corporations, and securities law and served as the first director of the law school's Appellate Advocacy Program. Under his leadership, the program won local, regional and national individual and interscholastic honors.

Each year, members of IIT Chicago-Kent's Moot Court Honor Society nominate their peers who have shown dedication to the program. The annual award, which includes a cash stipend, is made at the end of the academic year.

Ramsin Canon is a candidate for a certificate in Labor and Employment Law who came to IIT Chicago-Kent after working seven years as a union organizer and political consultant. Canon earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy, history and English from the University of Illinois at Chicago. At IIT Chicago-Kent, he served as a vice-president of the Moot Court Honor Society and as a member of the Chicago-Kent Law Review. Canon won IIT Chicago-Kent's Edmund Burke Award in Forensic Oratory. As a member of the team that competed in the 2012 Appellate Lawyers Association National Moot Court Competition, he won that tournament's best oral advocate award.

"Ramsin's impact on our program has been broad and deep," said IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Kent D. Streseman, director of the Ilana Diamond Rovner Program in Appellate Advocacy. "He coached two excellent, well-prepared teams this spring and he judged many hours of practice arguments for Rovner competitors and our spring squads. But just tallying the hours he spent as a mentor doesn't do justice to his contributions."

"Our members really appreciated the insight and intellect Ramsin brought to the task. He was always prepared, always thoughtful, always pushing advocates to go deeper, always giving advice that helps advocates sharpen their arguments and realize their potential," said Professor Streseman. "Ramsin brought this same dedication and insight to his work on the MCHS Executive Board. Because of his work on the newsletter this year, our membership has been better informed and better connected. He has done excellent behind-the-scenes work to improve a lot of the things we do."

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is celebrating "125 years of distinctive legal education." 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. In 2008, IIT Chicago-Kent became the only law school ever to win the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year. In 2009, IIT Chicago-Kent successfully defended its title in the National Moot Court Competition to become the first law school in more than 30 years to win back-to-back championships in the largest appellate advocacy tournament in the United States.