Feel the Byrne

One of the great things about Loyola is the accessibility of the faculty. Every professor has office hours each week for their students to drop by to ask questions and get some extra practice with concepts discussed in class. As a 1L, I was free to take advantage of office hours pretty regularly. A group of students actually had several Q&A sessions with our Contracts professor, Prof. Hull, over margaritas at El Cholo!

This year has been a bit different. The Byrne Trial Advocacy team takes a lot of time away from my schedule – either because of practices, reading our case fact pattern, or writing scripts. That being said, the Byrne coaches are some of most amazingly open and accessible people at Loyola. Most of the Byrne coaches aren’t official members of the faculty. They’re practicing attorneys who freely volunteer hours and hours of their time and expertise to help the students.

This semester, my coaches are Roxanna Manuel, Gagan Batthe, and Nadine Kendry. All of them are Loyola alums and also former Byrne team members. For general questions on evidence, case themes and theories, the team has a text message group that always seems to be buzzing. For more specific questions about writing, we can email any coach, day or night, and the coaches will usually respond by the next day. And of course, they are almost always available to talk in person about how to refine your case. In short, if you need to ask anything about trying a case or about crafting an argument, Byrne coaches are one of the best resources Loyola has to offer.