The Family Law Center at the DePaul University College of Law will become the Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck Family Law Center to reflect the firm’s ongoing financial and academic support. The center’s naming will seal a relationship the College of Law has enjoyed with Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck, which is the largest matrimonial law firm in the nation.

“The College of Law is fortunate to have the opportunity to work so closely with a firm that has consistently shown its support for our family law program and our students,” said Glen Weissenberger, dean of the College of Law. “Having the family law center named for Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck will hopefully encourage others to take a more active role to support our programs.”

Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck was established in 1981 to concentrate exclusively in the area of family law. The firm’s original principal partners were Donald C. Schiller and Joseph N. DuCanto. They were later joined by the third named partner, Charles J. Fleck, a former chief judge of the domestic relations division of the Circuit Court of Cook County. The firm has attracted leading lawyers as well as judges to its ranks, and continues to grow through its well-regarded law clerk training and associate development programs.

A generous financial gift, the amount of which the firm has requested not be publicly disclosed, its counsel during the creation of the center and the firm’s track record of providing paid internships to students were catalysts for the center’s naming.

“Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck has been a tireless supporter of the Center For Family Law at DePaul since its inception,” said Jane Rutherford, director of the center. “It is a privilege for us to recognize its dedication by naming our family law center the Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck Center for Family Law. We look forward to a rewarding association that will richly serve our students, the family law bar and the community at large.”

The center’s naming is especially meaningful to the firm. Schiller is a graduate of the DePaul College of Law and his father, Sidney, and his son, Jonathan, are graduates as well. Nine of the firm’s 36 current attorneys are DePaul law school graduates and Schiller serves as a member of the law dean’s advisory council.

“I have been personally involved in supporting DePaul for my entire career,” said Schiller who is a former president of the Illinois Bar Association and former chair of the American Bar Association’s Family Law Section. “The firm is dedicated to supporting the center because DePaul has taken a step forward to create a family law center that is unique. It is the only law school in the community that has made such a commitment to family law. It gives us a great deal of pride to be involved in such an important program in our field of practice.”

Established in 2000, the family law center offers a certificate in family law and expertise and research in such areas as child advocacy, juvenile justice, adolescent health and welfare, marriage, domestic violence, divorce and elder law. It works with lawyers, judges and legislators to promote and enhance teaching, research, law reform and community service in all areas of family law. It also serves as a hands-on training ground for future family law jurists.

Named for a distinguished firm that is well-recognized throughout the country, the Schiller, DuCanto and Fleck Family Law Center is poised to become a major source of fresh legal talent for the practice of family law. “This partnership will provide us and other lawyers in the field of family law with excellent recruits for law clerks and family law associates,” said Schiller. “It will attract highly qualified students who are interested in practicing family law.”