Ben sits down with Loyola Distinguished Professor in Residence, Dean Strang to discuss his role in the seminal U.S. Supreme Court Case United States v. Booker in 2005. In Part 2 of this two-episode series, Ben and Professor Strang move away from the legal facts of the case and begin to discuss the experience of litigating in the Supreme Court. In doing so, they explore the preparation process, specific tips for appellate litigation, and lessons learned while litigating in the highest Court in the land.

Ben sits down with Loyola Distinguished Professor in Residence, Dean Strang to discuss his role in the seminal U.S. Supreme Court Case United States v. Booker in 2005. In Part 1 of this two-episode series, Ben and Professor Strang focus on the specifics and do a deep dive into the facts, legal rules, holdings, and outcomes associated with U.S. v. Booker. In doing so, they discuss what led Professor Strang to this case in the first place as well as the implications of federal sentencing enhancements and district courts’ adherence to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines before and after the ruling.

In this week's episode, Maris and Karan sit down with fellow Loyola student and friend, Audrey La, to reflect on their experiences at the annual National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Convention. At the conference, the three attended a variety of workshops, including panels discussing the legal histories of AAPI folks that are often invisible in the legal curriculum and the importance of cross-cultural solidarity. Savoring the empowerment that comes with building community with thousands of AAPI attorneys at the convention, Maris, Karan, and Audrey discuss the importance of affinity spaces in the legal industry and the need to tell diverse stories in the legal classroom.

Following their discussion of historical litigation addressing affirmative action in education, Johannes and Andy continue the Greatest Hits series by discussing the landmark Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. They discuss the facts of the case and the Court’s majority opinion, while briefly addressing the separately filed concurring and dissenting opinions. Finally, they discuss the impact this will have on the education sector as well as in a larger employment context, specifically, on how this ruling will affect corporate hiring and diversity programs.

We speak with Anita Maddali, the Assistant Dean of Student Services and Weekend JD at Loyola University Chicago. We will explore her legal career and how she ended up in the Dean’s Suite. We also discuss how she plans on transforming her role and the community to meet the ever-changing needs of students.

In this episode, Karan has a conversation with Loyola Professor Juan Perea, a Curt and Linda Rodin Professor of Law and Social Justice. Professor Perea has written extensively on topics ranging from racial inequality, the legal history of race relations in the United States, and the civil rights of Latinos. Professor Perea teaches courses about Constitutional Law and Race in the Law at Loyola. Karan and Professor Perea discuss Professor Perea’s article about the inequitable impacts of the GI Bill and how this contributed to the status quo of affirmative action policies. They also discuss the current affirmative action discourse, outlook going forwards, and both the short/long-term implications of the SFFA ruling.

Ben sits down with Cook County Public Defender Sharone Mitchell Jr. to discuss his path to leadership within the Cook County Public Defenders’ office as well as his background and past experiences as both a public defender and a policy advocate in Chicago. During the course of their conversation, they discuss the offices’ goals and priorities, both past and present, as well as efforts the staff is taking to implement the Pretrial Fairness Act which effectively abolished the cash bail system in Illinois.

In this episode, Maris sits down with Cherie Mathews, a patent holder and entrepreneur who transformed a difficult experience with breast cancer into a patented product that has helped over 150,000 cancer patients. Cherie, among a disproportionately small number of female patent holders, candidly discusses the experiences that fueled her journey to patenting the garment – from being raised by a father who encouraged problem-solving to working on innovative projects at IBM. Maris and Cherie also discuss how intellectual property law can help solve societal issues, especially those that affect women and, ultimately, how we can begin to close the gender patent gap.

In this week's episode, Andy gets together with Associate Editor Johannes Alvarez-Rivero. Together, the two talk about and break down some of the landmark cases that eventually brought the Supreme Court 2023's "Student's for Fair Admissions v. Harvard"--the case that rejected affirmative action and ruled that colleges and universities can no longer use race as a factor in admitting students.

Yasmeen Khayr, a project coordinator at Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Urban Research and Learning, sits down with Casey to talk about her work as a researcher navigating the Domestic Violence Court in Cook County and evaluation of the Family Court Enhancement Project.