The Podvocate

n this episode, Neha Alety sits down with Hannah Sweeney, associate attorney at Pavich Law Group and former Loyola Chicago School of Law graduate. Hannah shares her experiences as a female litigator in a male-dominated field. We begin our discussion with her career path and background and her experiences in law school. She then discusses the gender-based challenges she’s faced in her career and ho...

In this episode, we explore how the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP) is transforming lives behind bars through access to higher education. What makes this program unique? How does it provide incarcerated individuals with the tools to achieve academic success and personal growth? We’ll discuss NPEP’s mission, its challenges, and the incredible stories of students whose lives have been c...

In this episode, Rachel Still and Isabella Lund sit down with Aisha Davis, Senior Policy Counsel at the ACLU of Illinois. Aisha shares her journey as a first-generation lawyer, detailing how her lived experiences and time in law school shaped her path to public interest law. We explore her critical insights on addressing systemic injustices affecting Black and LGBTQ+ communities, the interplay of...

This is the first episode in a new series called Access to Justice, which explores the growing gap of access to legal resources in different areas of the United States. Legal deserts – defined by the American Bar Association as a county with fewer than one lawyer per 1000 people – are spreading across rural areas of the country. Indiana is facing a statewide attorney shortage and has seen rural le...

Please enjoy this recording of an event held on campus on November 21! "Three years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan has led to the “striking” erasure of women from public life. Join Najia Mahmodi and Juliet Sorensen for a conversation on gender persecution in Afghanistan today and the path forward."

We often hear the term “law of the land,” where a legal framework is based on common or civil law. But what laws apply once we venture off dry land and out to sea? That’s where maritime law (or admiralty law) comes into play. Sometimes called the Law of the Sea, maritime law consists of laws, conventions, and treaties governing business, crime, and international disputes on open waters. The United...

Distinguished Professor in Residence Dean Strang sits down with Associate Editor Katie Dorsey to discuss the 1924 Leopold and Loeb trial, Clarence Darrow’s career, and how this “Trial of the Century” created a lasting legacy that is still relevant 100 years later. Research & Sources: To learn more about the Leopold and Loeb crimes and trial, check out The Leopold and Loeb Files: An Intimate Look a...

Author Nina Barrett (The Leopold and Loeb Files) and Associate Editor Katie Dorsey tell the story of the Leopold and Loeb murder and trial, which changed the field of criminal defense in America with ramifications that echo even today and the circumstances that make this horrifying crime still shocking and relevant a century later. Research & Sources:     To learn more about the Leopold and Loeb c...

Until the supreme court case Alton v NCAA in 2021, collegiate athletes could not monetize their athletic ability while in college. This episode explores the history and creation of the NCAA, the regulatory body of college sports. It will cover the early issues the NCAA faced. It then turns to the advent of amateurism and the term “student-athlete” the legal framework the NCAA used to protect itsel...

Survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence are particularly vulnerable to conviction and incarceration for the crimes of their abusive partners. Our criminal legal system’s refusal to understand and present the full context of a survivor-defendant's experience and abuse when assessing criminal culpability. In this episode, I will give a broad overview of accomplice liability, coe...

Nothing says Halloween like scary stories about your 1L year! Students from Loyola share stories about their 1L nightmares – the scary, crazy, embarrassing, or super stressful things they experienced during 1L that STILL haunt them to this day. From final exam blunders to real-life crime scenes, hear about some of the crazy scenarios that law students dealt with during their first year of law scho...

In this episode, I talked to Professor Crepelle about some of the fundamentals of Federal Indian Law. We discussed the federal and state government’s relationship with tribes, jurisdictional limitations tribes face when attempting to prosecute non-Indians, restorative justice within the courts, as well as Professor Crepelle’s personal experience which led him to this field. To explain these issues...

In this episode, I explore the investigation into the murder of Jean McConville, and the broader context of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I begin with an exploration of origins of the Troubles, the gruesome conflict that tore Northern Ireland apart and pitted neighbor against neighbor, that ultimately led to the death of thousands. I then move on to discuss Gerry Adams and Dolores Price, two h...

In my first episode on the Podvocate, we took an antitrust law, an ever-growing area of the law whose primary purpose is to regulate corporate M&A activity through the use of the Clayton Act and FTC Act to protect macro-level impacts on individual consumers and consumer markets. One area of the law with a similar goal is consumer protection law; however, instead of taking a look at fraud, deceptio...

Associate Editor Mary Bandstra sits down with two members of the Saint Leonard’s Ministries leadership, Executive Director Zack Schrantz and Intake & Housing Manager David Harris, to discuss the work they do with people who have been impacted by incarceration. Zack, David, and Mary discuss collateral consequences of criminal convictions, strategies to reduce recidivism, and the healing power of co...

In this archive episode recorded last year, former editors Maris and Karan chat with Susi Guerrero and Arjan Grover, two outgoing members of the Loyola Moot Court Program’s Executive Board. They discuss what Moot Court is like at Loyola, the special community it has cultivated for its members, and the value of appellate advocacy skills in law school and beyond.

Congratulations! You have done all the work to get great grades and networked successfully, and now, you have accepted an offer to be a Summer Associate. I remember the feeling myself, and after the excitement wore off, I was only left with overwhelming questions. What can I do to be the best summer associate possible and receive an offer to come back to the firm? What strategies should I follow,...

In the follow up to Guilding pt. 1, Ben sits down with People’s Law Office Attorney Brad Thompson, to further discuss the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and it’s work in Chicago. In doing so, we discussed the history of the guild, some of the key movements it has helped support, as well as some of the influential projects and programs it takes part in now. Specifically, we explored the work of the C...

In an episode recorded last semester (Spring of 2024), Ben sits down with fellow Podvocate Co-Editor in Chief, Casey Callahan, to talk about the history of the National Lawyers Guild both nationally and internationally over the course of the 20th and early 21st century. In doing so, they discuss what brought them both to the guild while students at Loyola as well as key historical events that led...

Casey sat down in May to talk with the Executive Director of Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Aisha Cornelius Edwards, and the Director of Legal Programs at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Breanna Kantor about how criminal and civil law are siloed. They discuss the importance of both criminal and civil attorneys being versed in the criminal and civil consequences of what legal actions they take on behalf of thei...

The incoming editorial board members for The Podvocate introduce themselves. We are looking forward to a great year!

Podvocate Associate Editor, Johannes Alvarez-Rivero, sits down to give the listeners a primer on the field of antitrust within the United States of America. First, Johannes discusses what antitrust laws are and what they are meant to protect. Johannes briefly discusses the governmental regulatory bodies that enforce antitrust laws, then turns to discussing the history of antitrust laws in the nati...

Ben sits down with Chief Defender of the Orleans Public Defenders Office (OPD), Danny Engelberg, to discuss the founding of the office as it is today as well as the events that led to the office’s remodeling after the destruction brought on by Hurricane Katrina. In doing so, they discuss OPD’s commitment to a community-centered defense model and the offices’ wholistic approach to advocacy and repr...

In this episode, Maris chats with Jamie Cernek, a Legislative Aide at the Chicago City Council Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight. Jamie is an attorney and organizer with years of experience in policy and advocacy, coalition-building, and campaign management. Even before law school, Jamie knew that policy was the path for her. In this episode, she reflects on this vision and how it carri...

In this solo episode, Casey dives into the web of collateral consequences of a criminal conviction, and how both attorneys and judges can better inform people charged with crimes of the consequences beyond a sentence.