Professor Featured As Panelist at 2024 Domestic Violence Summit
Professor Debra Pogrund Stark will be a featured panelist at the Domestic Violence Summit "The Path Forward: Legislation, Needed Interventions, and How Legal Professionals Can Get Involved to Make a Change" Heading link
Professor Debra Pogrund Stark was deeply honored to serve on a panel with Illinois State Senator Cristina Castro and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul at the Domestic Violence Summit that took place on October 29, 2024, at the Union League Club. This all-day event was sponsored by the Chicago Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association of Illinois, DuPage County Bar Association, and WINGS Program. Professor Stark’s panel presented on the topic: “The Path Forward: Legislation, Needed Interventions, and How Legal Professionals Can Get Involved to Make a Change”
Professor Stark’s comments focused on recent legislation that she and her students drafted and advocated for which was signed into law by the governor on August 9, 2024. She also shared other law reforms she and her students are currently working on to better protect domestic violence survivors and their children. Professor Stark also briefly explained how she and her students were able to get their law enacted and thanked Senator Robert Peters and Representative Theresa Mah who were the chief sponsors of the bill in the Illinois Senate and House. She also responded to questions about the feasibility of certain law reforms.
“This was an incredible opportunity to collaborate in an interdisciplinary way with leaders in various fields who are seeking to prevent domestic violence and better support DV survivors to become safer and reclaim their lives,” said Professor Stark. “There were several speakers that I plan to reach out to since some of my law reform work relates to some of what they are doing.”
The all-day Summit had six panels that included distinguished judges who preside over cases involving domestic violence as well as prominent and trailblazing professionals in the fields of social services, law enforcement, and healthcare, who spoke about their efforts on behalf of DV survivors.
“I learned something from each of the six panels. I was particularly excited that there was a panel on engaging men as allies in domestic violence prevention since, sadly, this is still lacking and very much needed.” said Professor Stark. “Kudos to John Sciaccotta, who is the current president of the Chicago Bar Association, for moderating that panel and being one of the key organizers of the all-day DV Summit, which was very well attended even through the culminating last panel that I was a part of!”