GIFTS
G
rowing up, Kathy Byrne
(JD ’88) thought she’d
choose the media as a career.
“During the Watergate hearings,
reporters were the people who
famously stood up for the little guy,”
she recalls. “That’s where I thought
my professional life would lead me.
Instead, I pursued that goal a different
way: through the law.”
Byrne has made a career
advocating for the less powerful
through her work as an asbestos
litigator at the Chicago firm Cooney
& Conway. Now, she’s paying forward
her success by establishing the Byrne
Chicago Scholarship Fund at the
School of Law.
“Supporting the law school is
so important. The best trial lawyers
in Chicago have come out of Loyola,
and the trial practice program,
especially Jamie Carey’s mentorship,
was life-changing for me,” she says.
Byrne had thought endowing a
scholarship required more than
she could contribute. When the law
school announced that the University
would match funds through
Access
to Excellence: The Campaign for
Scholarships
—reducing the required
commitment to $50,000—“I realized it
was within my reach,” she says.
The Byrne Chicago Scholarship
Fund is named for her whole family,
including her mother, former Chicago
mayor Jane Byrne. The fund is
targeted to part-time students as a
way of recognizing Kathy Byrne’s own
experience in what was then called
the evening division.
Byrne, who started as a full-time
day student but dropped out after
six weeks, later became a part-time
student by chance. “My mother was
mayor at the time, and a lot was
happening,” she says. “The week
before, President Jimmy Carter
had been at our house. I was about
to accompany my mom to the airport
to meet the pope, and I thought, ‘I
really don’t want to be in law school
right now.’”
She turned to Associate Dean
Jim Faught, who told her she was
always welcome back if she
changed her mind. Several years
later, Byrne did—but when she
contacted Faught a week before fall
classes began, the full-time division
was already packed. He offered her a
spot in the evening division.
“This turned out to be a great
place for me after I’d been out for a
few years,” Byrne recalls. “We had a
very bright class, including doctors,
police officers, and parents raising
children. Eventually, I switched to the
full-time division but still had most of
my classes in the evening. I’m glad to
have the chance to support part-time
students the way Loyola always has.”
Since she graduated, Byrne has
kept her Loyola connections active
in numerous ways. She is a frequent
guest speaker and member of the
Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy
Circle of Advocates. Every year, she
hosts the kickoff reception for the
Advocacy Mentor Program in her
home, covering all the costs.
The idea for this successful annual
gathering came to Byrne when she
and other mentors noticed students
were often too shy to call their
assigned mentors. “I thought, ‘Why
don’t we just have a party and get
everyone together to meet, similar to
the first-year dinners?’” Byrne says.
“It’s a lot of fun to mentor
students,” she adds. “Not all of
them have the chance to clerk or
do externships, but you don’t see
how all the things you learn in law
school really work until you see them
in action. Mentoring helps everything
fit together.”
Byrne has practiced in the
field of asbestos litigation since
1988. Representing only plaintiffs
in product liability litigation at trial
and appellate levels, she has secured
multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in
many trials. She served on the court-
ordered committee that framed
criteria for the Cook County asbestos
registry, which has served as a model
in other jurisdictions.
“Often, I’m the only person in the
courtroom representing the plaintiff,
while there are 13 or 14 attorneys
representing the corporation,” she
says. “Through no fault of their own,
plaintiffs’ lung systems have been
poisoned; they didn’t do anything
wrong except work hard.
“To give them an equal shot at
justice is an awesome responsibility.”
■
C
ountries living without
the rule of law are prone
to poverty, injustice, and
insecurity. The School of Law’s
LLM program in Rule of Law for
Development (PROLAW®) is providing
students from all over the world
with the specific knowledge and
skills they need to become effective
rule of law advisors—and the
Global Development Program at the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has
been a key supporter for PROLAW’s
entire journey.
The foundation’s initial gift of
$1.1 million helped launch the
program in 2011, and a 2012 gift
of $700,000 in 2012 enabled the
program to continue developing.
Now, the foundation’s additional
generous gift of $1,050,000 will
go even further toward improving
the rule of law in countries that are
developing, in economic transition,
or recovering from violent conflict.
Based at Loyola’s John Felice
Rome Center in Italy, PROLAW is the
first one-year program of its kind
to offer legal training to law school
graduates with an emphasis on
application of practical skills. From
their first day on the job, graduates
are qualified to act as advisors in
technical assistance projects and
in national initiatives undertaken
by legal and judicial authorities in
developing countries.
PROLAW is aimed at two
groups of students. The first
group, lawyers in countries currently
receiving assistance from the
international community on rule of
law matters, will lead the
process of legal reform in their
countries upon graduating
from the program. The second
group, attorneys from the
United States, Europe, Australia,
and other Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and
Development countries, use
their PROLAW preparation to
become advisors on the rule of
law in developing countries and
countries in economic transition.
PROLAW is the first “how-to”
program for this type of work.
“The success of PROLAW
underscores the commitment
of both Loyola University
Chicago and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation to the alleviation
of poverty and to a vision of a
world where respect for justice
and human dignity are the
norm,” says William T. Loris,
program director.
Says Dean David Yellen,
“Because of its emphasis on
practical skills, PROLAW is
uniquely positioned to
prepare talented, committed
international and American
students to succeed in the
challenging environments
of countries seeking to
transform their legal systems
and empower their citizens. We
are grateful for our supporters’
continuing commitment to
this important work.”
PROLAW’s third class
of extraordinary rule of law
leaders from countries across
the globe recently completed
the coursework training of the
degree program and will finalize
theses this summer.
■
Looking out for the
little guy—and for
today’s law students
Asbestos litigator Kathy Byrne establishes
scholarship in family’s name
Loyola’s innovative rule of law program is graduating its third class
Continued support strengthens PROLAW
Kathy Byrne in front of the Miro sculpture in Chicago, which her mother, former Chicago
mayor Jane Byrne, helped fund.
PROLAW’s Class of 2013-14 held a ceremony in April to celebrate the end of the coursework portion of the program. David J. Lane,
United States ambassador to United Nations agencies in Rome (middle row center), delivered remarks.
››
SHARING SUCCESS
SPRING 2014
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LOYOLA LAW
