detail to which the court may
take you.”
3L Nicollette Khuans has
participated in both the Jessup
International Moot Court Competition
and the National Moot Court
Competition. She also completed an
intensive trial advocacy course this
past winter, “where I realized for the
first time how critical the buckets
of time for opening and closing
arguments are,” she says. “In a short
period of time, you’re telling a story
and bringing the jury along with you.
That’s an art.”
Jessup, the most preparation-
intensive of moot court competitions,
“was immersive, overwhelming, and
daunting, but I wouldn’t change it
for anything,” she says. Coached by
Quinto, Khuans and her partner,
Maureen Mullen, made it to the
octofinals in the National Moot Court
Competition this spring, losing their
round by just two-tenths of a point.
“It was heartbreaking, but
we did the postmortem for hours
and concluded there was nothing
we’d have done differently,” Khuans
says. “Romeo is a great coach who
fine-tunes students’ skills so subtly
that we don’t even realize at the time
that we’re changing.”
Alums play
vital role
The sheer number of students
interested in trial practice courses and
competitions, plus the intense time
commitment required for coaching
student teams, mean Loyola law
faculty must rely on members of the
Chicago law community to help lead
competition efforts. Most of those
pitching in are School of Law alumni.
“Our graduates are vital to the
success of the competition program,
whether they’re coaching teams,
serving as judges, or teaching trial
practice courses as adjunct faculty,”
says Harris. “Our alums bring a depth
of skills, knowledge, talent, and
experience to the program. We aim
for a balance between seasoned
litigators and newer practitioners,
including a diversity of gender,
race, ethnicity, and professional
backgrounds.”
Canty adds, “Alumni contributions
are literally immeasurable; we’d
never be able to have a program
this size without them. Many whose
schedules don’t allow them to coach
serve as guest judges, coming in
for an evening or weekend. Even if
they come in for just one day, they’re
contributing immensely.”
Students tend to form strong
bonds during the high-pressure
process of competing. These
connections sometimes lead
to lasting partnerships. Peluso
competed with Canty on Loyola’s
National Moot Court team when
both were students. Now, the pair
coaches the Andrews Kurth Moot
Court National Championship team
together. “It’s a big commitment, but
I got so much from the program that
I think it’s important to give back,”
Peluso says. “Megan’s a joy to coach
with because she thinks about things
in a different way than I do.”
Adds Canty, “Having the
experience as teammates and later
as coaches has been incredible. We
work so well together, in part because
our careers are completely different,
which allows us to bring different
things to the table.”
Quinto, who devotes many
weeks’ worth of daily meetings
each year to preparing students for
competition, says coaching keeps
him on his toes. “I enjoy sparring
with the students intellectually,
challenging them and myself to find
more compelling ways to present
arguments,” he says. He even views
his coaching responsibilities as
extending beyond moot court,
cognizant that students are either
searching for work or beginning their
legal careers very shortly. Quinto
writes letters of recommendation
to highlight his students’ hard work
during competition, meets with them
individually to go over résumés and
discuss job search strategies, and,
after every practice, asks the alumni
and other practitioners who serve on
judging panels to share their business
cards with student competitors
“so students can grow their
networks,” he says.
The changing face
of advocacy
As the justice system focuses
increasingly on mediation, arbitration,
and other forms of ADR, the School
of Law’s offerings—including
competitions—have expanded to
prepare students for the changing
face of advocacy.
Randy Ojeda, who graduates
this spring, says a course he took
with Professor Teresa Frisbie,
director of the alternative dispute
resolution program, helped him
discover an affinity for the less
adversarial field of ADR. “I can
certainly argue with the best
of them, or I wouldn’t be in law
school,” he relates. “But mediation
is more my style”—and has given
him skills he uses frequently in
the talent management company,
Cigar City Management, he started
with a partner in his hometown of
Tampa, Florida.
“There will always be conflict
and egos when it comes to a band,”
he says, laughing. “Professor Frisbie
has gotten me to think about how
the skills we use as advocates are the
Acclaimed
advocates
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7)
2014-15 Thurgood
Marshall Mock Trial
Team members Lauline
Gough (left), Jade Gary,
Shawki Bell, and John
Gnilka strategize during
a practice round.
same skills we use communicating
in business, with family, and with
friends. ADR separates the person
from the problem, making you dive
down into people’s feelings and
interests to see what’s behind the
position they’re taking.”
This spring, Ojeda and the rest
of the Loyola team competed in the
International Academy of Dispute
Resolution (INADR) competition
in London, finishing third out of
44 teams. “We made it to the final
round,” says Ojeda, who said the most
valuable part of the experience for
him was observing the differences
between European and American
approaches to conflict resolution. “It
made me see that a lot of the way
I approach the world is America-
centric,” he says.
Joshua Heffernan (JD ’09)
is a senior case manager at ADR
Systems, where he administers
complex commercial mediations and
arbitrations. “Taking the international
arbitration course with Professor
Margaret Moses was a transitional
point for me,” he says. “I was drawn
to the idea of advocacy with an
emphasis on civility and a broader
eye toward achieving resolution.”
In his second year, Heffernan
competed in the Willem C. Vis
Commercial Arbitration Moot in Hong
Kong. After graduation, he competed
in Vienna as a member of the
Stockholm University Vis team while
pursuing an LLM in Sweden.
“Vis Moot people will tell
you it was the best experience
they had in law school,” he says.
“From an intellectual perspective,
you have the luxury of digging in
and spending a ridiculous amount
of time preparing for a fairly
narrow dispute. Socially, it’s a great
experience traveling to the other
side of the planet and meeting
people from all over the world.
Vis is addictive.”
Once hooked, Heffernan
continued his Vis connection by
coaching Loyola’s Vis Hong Kong
team. He and fellow coach John
Calhoun guided Loyola’s team to
an international championship in
2014. Although coaching the team
is a commitment that extends over
several months each year, “I find
it’s even valuable to my own career
skills,” he says. “It really changes
the way I interact with the people
around me.”
A home for
competitions
Over the past few years, Harris,
Canty, and their colleagues have
worked to bring an increasing
22
100
+
attorneys donate their time and talents
each year to coach Loyola competitions
awards were won by Loyola students during
the 2014-15 competition season
32
national and international
competitions included Loyola participants
this academic year
108
students competed during 2014-15
8
LOYOLA LAW
SPRING 2015
9
