Schaumburg Attorney Kenneth Chessick Establishes Endowed Scholarship Program at NIU Law
August 31, 2007
DeKalb, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University College of Law is pleased to announce the creation of the Kenneth C. Chessick Civil Justice Endowed Scholarship Program.
Kenneth C. Chessick, a 1984 graduate of NIU Law, donated $25,000 to establish the endowed scholarship program. A prominent trial attorney, Chessick will continue to contribute to the program using monies awarded from successful litigation of his cases to establish a series of scholarships named in honor of his clients.
The Chessick Scholarship Program’s first named scholarship is the Hope Moller Scholarship Award for the Study of Tort Law. This award came about as a result of Chessick’s successful litigation in a medical malpractice suit filed on behalf of Hope Moller, who died at the age of 36 as a result of metastatic breast cancer. At the trial, the jury determined that Moller’s death was the result of negligent failure to diagnose and treat an early stage of breast cancer; the verdict was upheld on appeal.
The Hope Moller Scholarship Award will be awarded to a second-year NIU Law student who has excelled in the first-year Tort courses, an area of law that seeks to provide remedies to parties injured as a result of a civil wrong, and is able to articulate the importance of that area of law.
The second scholarship in the Chessick Scholarship Program is the Lakisha Sarden Scholarhip Award for the Study of Civil Procedure Law. This scholarship is named in memory of Lakisha Sarden who died at the age of 13 as a result of Sickle Cell Disease and heart failure. A jury determined that Lakisha’s death was the result of negligent failure to diagnose and treat her disease.
The Lakisha Sarden Scholarhip Award will be awarded to a second-year NIU Law student who has excelled in the first-year Civil Procedure course and is able to articulate the impact of Civil Procedure Law on litigation in aiding the victims of medical negligence.
The Chessick Scholarship Program is among several generous gifts bestowed by Chessick to NIU Law. A sizable donation from Chessick in 1999 was used to create the Kenneth C. Chessick Legal Training Skills Center, which opened at the law school 2004. Incorporating a high-tech Moot Courtroom and Smart Classroom, as well as a deposition room, the Center introduces students to today’s technology being utilized in the courtroom, which they can expect to use frequently in their future legal careers. Chessick also is a member of the NIU Law Board of Visitors and sits on the NIU Foundation Board of Directors and its Development Committee. Furthermore, Chessick has been a guest lecturer at NIU Law teaching classes in advanced tort law and advanced civil procedure. Chessick received the NIU Law Alumni Council Patron Award in 1996 and 1997, and was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the NIU Alumni Association in 2001.
His firm, The Law Offices of Kenneth Chessick, M.D., in Schaumburg, concentrates its practice in medical and hospital negligence and personal injury representing catastrophically injured victims in Illinois and Nevada in state and federal courts. The firm has achieved record verdicts at trial and settlements in excess of $100 million. The firm also conducts appellate representation and has successfully prosecuted multiple landmark appeals in the First and Second District Court of Appeals, the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Illinois Supreme Court.
In addition to being a practicing attorney, Chessick is a doctor of medicine certified in general surgery with an area of special interest in gastroenterology.
Chessick received a B.S. in zoology and psychology from the University of Illinois in 1964; an M.D. from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago in 1968; and a J.D. cum laude from Northern Illinois University College of Law in 1984. While studying for his medical degree, he took part in Project HOPE in Colombia, South America, in tropical medicine and medical education.
For more information, contact:
Melody Mitchell
Director, Alumni Events & Public Relations
(815) 753-9655
mmitchell@niu.edu