News from the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy | February 2014

OTHER NEWS
Programming and events
The 17th Anniversary Philip H. Corboy Lecture in Trial Advocacy was held this fall on November 6. The presentation focused on the unique practice of civil rights litigators. The panel of seasoned civil rights litigators, Suzanne Bish, Jon Loevy, and Ricardo Meza, was moderated by Prof. Barry Sullivan.  The panelists shared their insight and experience litigating cases with substantial impact on individual and group rights in the areas of wrongful conviction, police misconduct, discrimination in education and employment.

The Honrable Virginia M. Kendall (JD ’92) hosted the annual Meet the Lawyers panel presentation in October.  The panel focused on litigation and practice in the Federal system. The panelists spanned a diverse array of practice areas providing students with insight into life after law school for those seeking traditional litigation positions to advocacy in the public arena. The panelists included Jeremy C. Daniel, Maeve Kendall, Hon. Virginia Kendall, Joan L. Long, Tiffany McCormick, Patrick Mehler, Laurence Msall, Patrick Murphy, Thomas M. Paris, and Mark L. Rotert.  For more information about events, check out our calendar.

What’s ahead this semester
Loyola will co-host the regional National Trial Competition (NTC) with Kent School of Law in February. The NTC is sponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association and is one of the largest and most prestigious mock trial competitions in the country. We hope many of you will join us as judges for this competition.

Loyola will host its 37th Annual Intraschool Moot Court Competition at the School of Law in March. The final round  of the competition will be judged by a panel led by Hon. William Bauer of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Read more… 

Trial Practice update
Student interest in advocacy remains high with demand to enroll in courses and try outs for advocacy competition teams at record numbers. We welcomed several new instructors to our trial advocacy courses this year including Anthony Plaid (JD ’08), Debra L. Cruz (JD ’08), Adrienne Mebane and Ari Telisman. Further, we expanded our course offerings with the addition of communications expert, David Mann. David is a speaker, trainer, and professional actor and director who presents on the subject of persuasive communication advocacy for corporations, bar associations and the National Institute for Trial Advocacy.  He will regularly offer his Advanced Courtroom Communications course for our students. To enhance our trial advocacy teaching we are involved in a pilot project with Acclaim software which allows us to give students time-stamped comments to their performances on video. The written video critique adds an additional layer of feedback to what students receive in the live classroom environment.

NITA news
We continue our decades- long relationship with the National Institute for Trial Advocacy by hosting several advocacy training programs including the Midwest Regional Building Trial Skills program. Our Distinguished Practitioner-in-Residence, William Elward (BA ’82, JD ’93), is the program director. The NITA program attracts attorneys from across the country. We value our on-going relationship with NITA and look forward to supporting future programs.

Dispute Resolution Program
The Dispute Resolution Program and students benefit from the exceptional leadership of Director Teresa Frisbie. The program thrives with the addition of new courses, practicum and clinical experiences in dispute resolution. Our students compete in dispute resolution programs nationally and internationally and Loyola is co-sponsoring the International Academy of Dispute Resolution (INADR) international mediation competition on March 5-8, 2014. Fifty teams from around the world are expected to compete. Read more…

Circle of Advocates Mentorship Program
The mentoring program established by the Circle of Advocates as an opportunity for students seeking a career in litigation, in particular, to build relationships and gain insight and guidance from our accomplished alumni. The student interest in this program is exceptionally high. We encourage you to consider participating as a mentor to our students. It is rich and rewarding experience for both mentor and mentee. We extend our thanks to Kathy C. Byrne (JD  ’88) who has graciously hosted a mentorship program reception at the start each year.

Scholarships and Awards
Dennericka Brooks (JD ’07) is the coach of Loyola’s Thurgood Marshall mock trial team. She was awarded the St. Bellarmine Award by the Law Alumni Association to honor alumni who have been in practice for 15 years or less and who have distinguished themselves by their  contributions to the profession and to the School of Law.

Kristin Totten (3L) a Corboy Fellow in 2012-2013 and a member of the criminal mock trial team in 2011-2012. Kristen Totten (3L, center) was the School of Law recipient of the 2013 President’s Medallion. The annual award recognizes students in each of Loyola’s schools for their  outstanding scholarship, leadership, and service.

Faculty news
Barry Sullivan, Cooney and Conway Chair in Advocacy, was the inaugural Arthur Cox Visiting Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin in 2013. He was also named to the “Irish Legal 100” in 2012 and 2013. Barry’s most recent publications include “In This, The Winter of Our Discontent: Legal Practice, Legal Education, and the Culture of Distrust,” 62 Buffalo Law Review (with Alfred S. Konefsky) (forthcoming 2014); “Law and Discretion in Supreme Court Recusals: A Response to Professor Lubet,” 47 Valparaiso University Law Review  (forthcoming 2014) (the paper was first presented as a response to Professor Lubet’s endowed lecture held at Valparaiso); “Book Reflections: A Book That Shaped Your World: Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol,” 50 Alberta Law Review 934 (2013); and “FOIA and the First Amendment: Representative Democracy and the People’s Elusive “Right to Know,” 72 Maryland Law Review 1 (2012), to be reprinted in First Amendment Handbook, Rodney Smolla’s picks of the best First Amendment articles of the year. In November, Barry delivered a lecture at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, “Economic Analysis and the Administrative State.” Barry was also the lead attorney for the ABA as amicus curiae in Carlos Augusto Rodriguez and Others (Palace of Justice) v. State of Colombia, No. 10.738, which is pending in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and involves Colombia’s alleged failure to investigate human rights abuses and to give adequate protection to judges. It is the first case in which the ABA has filed a brief in a non-US court.

Zelda Harris, Director of the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy, participated as a faculty member for the Cardozo Intensive Trial Advocacy Program, as well as the Emory School of Law Trial Techniques Program. She was also a team leader for the NITA Midwest Regional program at Loyola in March, and served on the faculty of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence conference in San Francisco and in Rockford, Illinois. She joined the faculty Office of the Public Defender, Trial Advocacy Training for the Child Welfare Attorney in Camden, New Jersey.  Zelda was also faculty for an on-line training module sponsored by the National Center for State Courts, the American Judges Association and Futures Without Violence.

Teresa Frisbie, Director of the Dispute Resolution Program, recently
presented “Practical Applications of Neuroscience in Mediation and Negotiation” for the Circuit Court of Cook County and the Association of Conflict Resolution. She served on a panel “Teaching Mediation Advocacy Skills Inside and Outside the Classroom” at the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Legal Educator’s Colloquium, which highlighted Loyola’s EEOC Mediation Advocacy Project. She also served on the ISBA Webinar panel “Arbitration Under the Federal Arbitration Act.” Teresa is actively involved in promoting mediation at the Circuit Court of Cook County, where she serves on a committee for a new mediation program, provides training for the Association of Attorney Mediators for a proposed multi-door court house consulting program, and for a parentage and child support court program on negotiation. In 2013 she received a scholarship to attend the de Bono Group Course in Creativity in Pennsylvania, and was named a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. Her publications include “Ten Tips for a Successful Mediation,” in the Women’s Bar Association of Illinois Journal (Summer 2012); and the following articles published in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin: “A Few Thoughts on Gender in the Practice of Mediation,” “What Your Client Needs to Know About Mediation Confidentiality,” “Don’t Let Advocacy in Mediation Be As Futile as a Political Conversation,” “How to Mediate Disputes Involving the Elderly,” and “Meaningful Conferences Prevent ‘Arbigation’ in Commercial Cases.”

Megan Canty, Assistant Director of the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy, spoke on a panel at the Stetson University College of Law Educating Advocates in May. She presented on 21st Century Advocacy Scholarship.

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