 | From left: Team members Michelle Garabetian '24, Danielle Dhari '24, Caprecia Camper-Young '25
|
|
Loyola Law School Students Place Second in Battle of Experts EventLMU Loyola Law School's Byrne Trial Advocacy Team members were finalists in the 2023 Battle of the Experts Mock Trial Competition, beating 15 of the strongest trial advocacy law schools in the country. Sponsored by Drexel Kline School of Law, the Battle of the Experts is a unique mock trial competition that showcases the critical role of expert witnesses in litigation. It is judged by leading trial lawyers.
| |
Student Advances to Final Round of Top GunAmeen Hussaini '23, a member of Loyola's Byrne Trial Advocacy Team, advanced to the final round of the 2023 Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition, held in June at Baylor University School of Law. Top Gun is an invitation-only event for law schools that have excelled at mock trial competitions during the past year or otherwise distinguished themselves in their dedication to trial advocacy training. Each of the 16 participating law schools sends just one competitor.
| |
Byrne Student Takes Home Second Place Best Advocate Award at Jury-Trial EventByrne Trial Advocacy Team member Natalie English '24 won second place for the Best Advocate Award at the 2023 UCLA Verdict Jury-Trial Competition hosted by UCLA School of Law. The innovative competition uses a mock jury to deliver verdicts similar to a real trial rather than scores given by a panel of judges.
| |
| Trial Ad Year in Photos: Courtroom, Classroom, & Courtyard
| |
Finalists Earn Best Advocate at So. Texas Mock Trial ChallengeAt the 2023 South Texas Mock Trial Challenge in Houston, Loyola Law School students were finalists, second only to the tournament champion Stetson University College of Law. Ameen Hussaini '23 also took home the award for Best Advocate in the final round.
| |
Loyola Advances to Regional Finals of AAJ Trial Ad CompetitionLoyola Law School's student team advanced to the regional finals of the 2023 American Association for Justice's Student Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC). For more than 30 years, AAJ has sponsored STAC to provide law students with an opportunity to develop and practice essential trial advocacy skills in front of distinguished members of the bar and bench.
| |
| Moot Court Successes in Southern California
| |
 | From left: Violet Flocks, Madeline Lim, and Stephanie Lamb
|
| Entertainment Moot Team Takes Top Brief
Entertainment Moot Court Team members Violet Flocks '25, Madeline Lim '24, and Stephanie Lamb '24 won the First Place Brief award at the 2023 Pepperdine Entertainment Moot Court Competition. This is the first time that a Loyola team has been awarded this honor, although the team won the overall competition in 2021. This year's team also beat out nine other teams in the oral argument rounds to make it to the quarter-finals.
| |
 | From left: Giselle Rojas, Chelsea Downes, Lizbeth Arias, Emma Reyes, and Kalid Knox
|
| National Moot Court Teams See AdvancesThe team of Emma Reyes '23, Kalid Knox '23, and Derek Matthews '23 beat Arizona State University, USC, and Chapman law schools in the preliminary and quarter-final rounds at the 2023 National Moot Court Regional Competition at Chapman Law School. They narrowly lost to Pepperdine in the semi-final round. The team of Lizbeth Arias '24, Chelsea Downes '24, and Giselle Rojas '25 also competed and won two of three ballots in each of the preliminary rounds.
| |
| Recent LMU Loyola Law School Advocacy Milestones:
| |
- 2023 Pepperdine Entertainment Moot Court Competition: Quarter-Finalists, Best Brief
- 2023 National Moot Court Regional Competition: Quarter-Finalists
- 2023 Tulane Mardi Gras Moot Court Invitational Competition: Best Petitioner Oralist
- 2023 Roger J. Traynor Moot Court Competition: Champions, 2nd Excellence in Appellate Advocacy Award, Geoffrey Hall Wright Award for Best Oralist, 3rd Individual Merit Award for Oral Argument
- 2023 Battle of the Experts: National Finalists
- 2023 Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition: National Finalist
- 2023 UCLA Verdict Jury Trial Competition: 2nd Best Advocate Award
- 2023 South Texas Mock Trial Challenge: National Finalists
- 2023 American Association for Justice (AAJ) Student Trial Advocacy Competition: Regional Finalists
- 2022 Battle of the Experts: National Semi-Finalists, Outstanding Advocate
- 2022 Buffalo-Niagara Trial Competition: National Semi-Finalists
- 2022 Federal Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition: Quarter-Finalists, 3rd Best Brief
- 2022 National Moot Court Competition: National Quarter-Finalists, 8th Best Brief
- 2021 American Association for Justice (AAJ) Student Trial Advocacy Competition: Regional Finalists
- 2021 Buffalo-Niagara Trial Competition: National Semi-Finalists
- 2021 Federal Bar Association’s Thurgood Marshall Memorial Moot Court Competition: Quarter-Finalists, 3rd Best Brief
- 2021 Hispanic National Bar Association: Quarter-Finalists, 2nd Best Oralist
- 2021 National Entertainment Law Competition: Champions, Best Oral Advocate, 3rd Place Petitioners’ Brief
- 2021 National Moot Court Competition: Regional Champions, Best Advocate, 2nd Best Brief
- 2021 National Trial Competition: Regional Finalists
- 2021 Rodger J. Traynor Moot Court Team: Finalists, Excellence in Appellate Advocacy Award, Gisnet Mandell Award for Best Brief
- 2021 UCLA Verdict Jury-Trial Competition: National Finalists
- 2021 Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court: Honorable Mention
| |
 | From left: Director of Trial Advocacy Programs Susan Poehls '89, Christine D. Spagnoli '86, and Loyola Law School Interim Dean Brietta Clark pose next to the National Civil Trial Competition trophy.
| |
| | |
Loyola Law Hosts Prestigious National Civil Trial CompetitionLoyola Law School recently hosted the 22nd installment of the prestigious National Civil Trial Competition, sponsored by the plaintiffs' law firm Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP. Competition rounds were held in the law school's Dordick Family Trial Advocacy Center and the Santa Monica Courthouse. The competition involved 64 law student litigants on 16 teams of four. The University of Akron School of Law won this year's tournament. As a prior champion and host school, Loyola Law School did not participate in this year's competition.
| |
Trial Advocacy Fund to Expand Opportunities for Future LitigatorsMore than 200 alumni and friends gathered on the Loyola Law School campus on Thursday, Sept. 21 to celebrate Nava Dordick '23 and Gary A. Dordick (pictured center, left-right), who made a generous $8 million commitment to the law school. The gift will establish the LMU Loyola Law School Dordick Family Trial Advocacy Fund, dedicated to supporting the school’s celebrated advocacy programs, which provide tactical and strategic skills training to aspiring litigators with an emphasis on innovative curricula and a commitment to ethical advocacy. “I am beyond thrilled by the Dordicks’ generosity,” said Interim Dean and Senior Vice President of LMU Loyola Law School Brietta Clark. “A gift of this magnitude provides Loyola Law School an extraordinary foundation of support as we continue to grow Loyola Law School’s top-ranked advocacy programs and shape the diverse legal profession of the future.” More>>
| |
| 
PUBLIC OFFICESara Hernandez Elected to L.A. Community College BoardFormer Byrne Trial Advocacy Team member Sara Hernandez '11 is using her skills as a public policy advocate to represent her community as an elected official.
Hernandez won election to the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees in 2022 to represent Seat No. 4. She also placed fourth on a crowded special election ballot to replace Rep. Xavier Becerra in the 34th Congressional District of California in 2017.
She is currently a managing attorney at DLA Piper and teaches constitutional law at Los Angeles Valley Community College.
“Loyola Law School is deeply rooted in the fabric of the greater Los Angeles area. Going to Loyola helped me get civically engaged in this city and was an essential part of my preparation for a career in local politics, education, land use and environmental law,” Hernandez said.
| | 
ON THE BENCHGovernor Appoints Alum to L.A. County Superior CourtThe Hon. John C. Weller '05 has achieved new heights since his days competing in trial competitions at Loyola. He's now in his third year as a judge in one of the busiest courts in the country.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Weller to the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2020. Weller was previously a deputy district attorney in Ventura County and in Los Angeles County in the cybercrime division before his appointment to the Superior Court bench.
Weller said his experience on the Byrne Trial Advocacy Team and other programs at Loyola Law School inspired and prepared him for his future career.
"These programs gave me exposure to the courtroom and was the beginning of my training on how to conduct myself as an attorney," Weller said. "It is because of these programs that I developed a desire to start my legal career as a trial attorney, and in particular a Deputy District Attorney."
| |
| | |
PEER RECOGNITIONTrial Team Alumna Ibiere Seck Recognized as Top Trial LawyerIbiere Seck '07 was voted into the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), a prestigious organization of trial lawyers and judges that dedicates itself to the preservation and promotion of the Seventh Amendment, which guarantees the right to civil jury trials. Seck joins at the Associate rank, which requires completion of 20 civil jury trials or equivalent experience.
Seck was also named to Thomson Reuters' 2023 "Top 50 Women" Southern California Super Lawyers list. “It's really about connecting with the jury,” Seck said of the secret to her success. “It’s about telling a compelling story and convincing people that there's no verdict amount too high.”
| |
 | From left: Loyola Project for the Innocent Judy & Steve Page Director Joe Trigillio, exonorees Gary Tyler and Barry Williams, and Center for Juvenile Law & Policy Kaplan & Feldman Executive Director Sean Kennedy '89 pose after their International Wrongful Conviction Day panel.
| |
| | |
LOYOLA PROJECT FOR THE INNOCENT
LPI Hosts "Life After Death" Panel Commemorating 10th-Annual International Wrongful Conviction DayGary Tyler and Barry Williams, two men who each spent over 40 years on death row before being exonerated, talked about their long paths to justice during the panel 'Wrongful Convictions: Life After Death' hosted by the Loyola Project for the Innocent to commemorate the 10th International Wrongful Conviction Day on Oct. 2, 2023. Joe Trigilio, Judy & Steve Page Executive Director of Loyola Project for the Innocent, concluded the panel discussion with a message for everyone: "Not enough community members, defense attorneys, prosecutors, are listening to the dignity and wisdom spoken here today by Gary and Barry. What I’ve learned working as a public defender for so many years is that nobody is a disposable person.”
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
