Chicago-Kent Magazine Fall 2023

Chicago-Kent Magazine

Four Decades of Victory

Trial Advocacy Alumni Fight for the Rule of Law

A Non-Judgmental Judge

Paving the Educational Path

Putting the ‘Personal’ in Personal Injury

Taking Victory from Classroom to Courtroom

A Letter From Dean Anita K. Krug

Dear Alumni,

I’M HAPPY TO REPORT that 2023 has been a strong year for Chicago-Kent College of Law. Just in the last six months, faculty members have been cited by the United States Supreme Court, received a research grant from the American Philosophical Association, received this year’s Best Book Award from the International Studies Association’s International Law Section, and celebrated recent convictions of war criminals that they helped secure at the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal, among other achievements.

The 2022–2023 academic year also brought an important milestone. It was the 40th year of Chicago-Kent’s Trial Advocacy Program. Former Judge Warren D. Wolfson launched the program in 1982—and at his side from the very beginning is former Judge David Erickson, who has directed the program since Wolfson departed Chicago-Kent in 2009.

The amount of care and effort these two individuals have put into building this top-ranked program cannot be overstated. Students in the program learn how to prepare and argue a case from beginning to end, gather evidence, and question witnesses. Excellence is expected, and Professor Erickson rigorously coaches students to be their best. They practice hard, and they win.

On a regular basis I hear from alumni who tell me that Professors Wolfson and Erickson have given them so much more than advocacy skills. I’ve heard stories of late-night coaching sessions and nervous tears. I’ve also heard stories of

life-changing job offers and career-defining mentoring. In the background of every one of those stories is Professor Wolfson or Professor Erickson, telling our students that they can do it. That encouragement doesn’t stop at graduation, either. Alumni often reach out for mentoring years later and always find the comfort and guidance they need in Professor Erickson’s seemingly endless supply of unconditional support.

Our Trial Advocacy Program doesn’t just give students the tools they need to survive in the legal realm; it also gives them confidence to shine, and that is why the program is consistently ranked as one of the best trial advocacy programs in the country. That’s also why our trophy case at the Conviser Law Center is bursting at the seams, so to speak, and why our alumni are excelling in their fields.

I would like to introduce you to four of those remarkable trial advocacy alumni, each of whom is featured in this issue of Chicago-Kent Magazine. First, you’ll meet Judge John Lyke Jr. ’94 of the Cook Country Criminal Division. In his 30 years working in criminal law in Cook County, he has been involved in every component of the courtroom. He uses his knowledge and experience to oversee a respectful, empathetic court that regards upholding the United States Constitution as the highest priority.

Next, you can read about H. Patrick Morris ’83, a member of our very first trial advocacy team. Over his 40-year career, Morris has built a reputation as one of the city’s top litigators, representing clients from the Chicago Tribune to ExxonMobile to television personality Dr. Phil. When prospective clients need someone to argue their case in court, Morris is the one they call. He’s proud to say he learned the basics at Chicago-Kent.

Sulema Medrano ’09 is a leader in more ways than one. She sorts through some of the most complex insurance cases by day, and mentors young lawyers by night. She has served on the Chicago Board of Education and the Hispanic National Bar Association. Wherever she goes, she opens doors for the next generation of Latina lawyers, building pipelines to better futures.

Lastly, Bryce Hensley ’17 may be only a few years out of law school, but he has already made big waves in the legal world. A new star in personal injury, he’s secured settlements for victims of both the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting and the Willowbrook, Illinois, ethylene oxide emissions case.

Trial advocacy alumni never leave Chicago-Kent for good, as they return to coach, judge, or mentor the next generation. That they choose to do so is testament to the quality of the program. Our students aren’t merely participating in the program; rather, they’re joining a family 40 years in the making, the members of which include some of the brightest advocates in the business.

The Trial Advocacy Program is only one of the reasons I am so proud to serve as dean of this remarkable law school. Thank you so much for your support of this school and the Trial Advocacy Program. Here’s to another 40 years of excellence.

Anita K. Krug Dean and Professor

Chicago-Kent

6 Justice After Crime

Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. ’94 brings decades of advocacy experience and empathy to the bench.

8 Equity for Generations

It wasn’t enough for Sulema Medrano ’09 to climb to the top of her field. She’s helping other women do it, too.

10 Advocating After Tragedy

Bryce Hensley ’17 has always wanted to help people. His work in mass torts has him helping people on a larger scale than even he thought was possible.

CHICAGO-KENT MAGAZINE

Dean and Professor of Law ANITA K. KRUG

1 2 Where It All Starts

H. Patrick Morris ’83 went from barely making Chicago-Kent’s first trial advocacy team to star litigator, and is helping others do the same.

Associate Vice President for Major and Planned Gifts SUSAN M. LEWERS

Senior Director of Constituent Engagement JOSEPH VOLIN

Produced by the Illinois Institute of Technology

Content Director ANDREW WYDER

Editor KAYLA MOLANDER

Senior Graphic Designer SCOTT BENBROOK

Photography JAMIE CEASER

Chicago-Kent Magazine is published by Chicago-Kent College of

Illinois Institute of Technology, for its alumni and friends.

Address correspondence to Chicago-Kent Magazine, 565 West Adams Street, Chicago, Illinois 60661.

Copyright 2023 Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology

On the Cover

Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. ’94 spent more than 20 years as an advocate, as both a prosecutor and as a defense attorney, before becoming a judge. Now, he runs his own courtroom in the Cook County Criminal Division.

HONORS, AWARDS, AND FELLOWSHIPS

Rebecca Chmielewski ’23 was awarded the 2023 Sandra P. Zemm Prize in Labor and Employment Law. During her time at Chicago-Kent, Chmielewski served as secretary and president of the Labor and Employment Law Society. She also worked in the C-K Law Group’s Plaintiff’s Employment Law Clinic. Chmielewski joined The Prinz Law Firm after graduation, where she clerked during her 2L summer.

Mary Kate Nowak ’24 received the 2023 Donald W. Banner Diversity Fellowship, which was “created to strengthen diversity and inclusion in intellectual property law,” according to Banner Witcoff, the Chicago-based law firm sponsoring the award. The fellowship provides $5,000 for law school tuition or expenses. Recipients also participate in the firm’s summer associate program. The fellowship is named for the firm’s founding partner.

Devin Ross ’23 is the winner of Chicago-Kent’s third annual A More Perfect Union racial justice writing competition for her paper titled, “Don’t Stop Me Now: An Analysis of Low-Level, Pretextual Traffic Stops and a Case for Banning Them.”

The paper examines low-level traffic stops, which are those that are conducted for non-moving violations, such as a broken taillight or an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror.

Grace Quigley ’24 is the winner of the 2023 Mary Rose Strubbe Writing Prize for her paper titled, “‘I Want to Talk to the Manager’: Labor Law in the Automated Workplace.” The paper examines how to regulate the usage of computer-driven decision-making in the workplace, particularly when computers are used to manage people. Quigley found that automated management of workers can be a slippery slope without proper safeguards.

FACULTY AND LAW SCHOOL NEWS

Chicago-Kent’s Public Interest Center held the 2023 Public Interest Awards on April 19.

Militza Pagán ’17, with the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, was presented with the 2023 Honorable Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Award, which is given to an alum who has made an outstanding contribution to the practice of law or judiciary, public service or government, business or commerce, or the media.

The 2023 Vivien C. Gross Pro Bono and Public Interest Leadership Award, renamed for the late professor who built the framework for the Public Interest Program, was given to Nicole Jansma ’23.

The 2023 Ronald W. Staudt Public Interest Partner Award, which recognizes organizations that make

outstanding contributions to public interest law while providing opportunities for Chicago-Kent students to gain meaningful experience in public interest practice, was awarded to the Children’s Legal Center.

Devin Ross

Public Interest Awards

Militza Pagán

Grace Quigley

Nicole Jansma

Mary Kate Nowak

Rebecca Chmielewski

“Though the Movement for Black Lives is many years old as an organization, and the events of 2020 are rapidly going into the rearview mirror, questions about policing and how law enforcement is to ideally work aren’t actually going away,” says Chicago-Kent Associate Professor Raff Donelson

Donelson, along with scholars at Pennsylvania State University, was awarded a grant of $5,000 from the American Philosophical Association to fund their Policing, Policy, and Philosophy Initiative. According to Donelson, this is one of the first projects that is dedicated to policing that the APA has funded.

“Traditionally, philosophers write a lot about crime,” says Donelson. “Why we commit crimes, why crimes are bad, and which things are criminalized and the like, but policing is relatively new for philosophers to talk about.”

Chicago-Kent continues to work to be a welcoming environment for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and offers them a number of resources. The LGBTQ+ student group on campus is the Lambdas. The Greek letter, λ, or lambda, has long stood as a symbol for LGBTQ+ liberation. In addition, Chicago-Kent

offers resources for students in need. Among other things, the Brave on Campus program is a Safe Space program where people who have questions about gender and sexuality can go to discuss those issues. Chicago-Kent has a long history of standing against discrimination. More than 20 years ago, Chicago-Kent joined 30 other law schools in supporting FAIR v. Rumsfeld, a suit challenging the Solomon Amendment, which forced law schools to welcome military recruiters, regardless of whether they discriminated against LGBTQ+ individuals. Today Chicago-Kent celebrates its LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff members. The LGBTQ+ community is always welcome at Chicago-Kent.

Chicago-Kent Professor Nicole Buonocore Porter says that we all could use a little work-life balance, and that our policies should support that pursuit. Her new book, The Workplace Reimagined: Accommodating Our Bodies and Our Lives (Cambridge University Press 2023), examines simple policy changes that could help create more humane workplaces.

When Porter, who is also director of Chicago-Kent’s Martin H. Malin Institute of Law and the Workplace, first started conducting her research, she was studying the needs of workers who are caregivers and those living with disabilities.

“I started seeing all these similarities between those two groups of people in that they both have difficulty meeting some of their employers’ rules and policies,” Porter says.

Franko Simatović, two convicted war criminals who Chicago-Kent

Assistant Professor Adam Weber ’99 prosecuted during his 10 years working as a trial attorney at the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the U.N. in The Hague, Netherlands.

The ICTY is a special court that was established in the wake of the Yugoslav Wars, an armed conflict that resulted in the breakup of the former Yugoslavia into six modern nations: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and North Macedonia. The conflict took place from 1991–2001 and is noted for being particularly brutal.

“The greatest feeling is that there’s been a sense of justice delivered to entire nations, to an enormous number of victims devastated by the events in the former Yugoslavia,” says Weber, who is also associate dean of international programs at Chicago-Kent.

In a case involving the Jack Daniel’s whiskey company and an adult-themed dog toy, United States Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan quoted an article written by Chicago-Kent Distinguished Professor of Law Graeme B. Dinwoodie.

On May 31, 2023, United Nations appeals judges significantly expanded the convictions of Jovica Stanišić and

“The particular article was written 15 years ago now,” Dinwoodie says. “You sometimes think that no one reads your law review articles except maybe your family. So it is nice when you have a sense that the courts—the clerks, at least, and maybe the justices—have read your work as well. It’s affirming.”

Raff Donelson

Adam Weber

40 Years of Trial

Despite how it looks on TV, it’s not that easy to stand in a courtroom and argue your case. It’s even harder to win. The Trial Advocacy Program at Chicago-Kent College of Law teaches students how to be the best possible advocates for their future clients. The program’s alumni don’t just know how to argue a case from beginning to end, but they know how to win. They are victorious for firms big and small, public and private, across the country. But no matter how far they go, they’re always a part of Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy family.

Trial Advocacy

RESPECT AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

“IF WE AS JUDGES ALLOW CHAOS to take over our courtrooms, we as a society are done because we’re the last bastion,” says Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. ’94. “We’re the last line of defense to a civil society.”

Lyke knows a lot about the chaos and violence that exist in the world.

He’s been working in criminal law for nearly 30 years now—first in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, then as a defense lawyer in his own firm, and now on the bench as a circuit judge in the criminal division at the circuit court of Cook County, Illinois.

Lyke has spent the last two years in the criminal division, but has done a stint in every division in Cook County—even setting bail in cases featuring R. Kelly, Jussie Smollett, and G Herbo.

But he didn’t become a lawyer to brush elbows with the rich and famous.

“My background is very humble, to put it mildly. I’m from Robert Taylor Housing Projects, as well as [the] Englewood [neighborhood], two of the roughest places in Chicago, particularly back in those days,” he says. “I saw a lot of, in my opinion at the time, maltreatment of African Americans, people who look like me, by the police. That motivated me to want to go to law school to defend those people who really couldn’t defend themselves.”

ney, you don’t have that power at all. In fact, a judge doesn’t even have that power.”

The experience Lyke got as a state’s attorney and as a defense lawyer helped shape him into a stronger judge. He recognizes the trauma that is carried into his courtroom on a daily basis and believes that society needs to better address it.

It’s also why he believes that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and that comes through in the way he runs his courtroom.

“The defendant’s family is extremely stressed out because they know if he or she is convicted, more likely than not, that person, if they get out of prison, will be so old that most of their loved ones will be dead anyway,” he says. “On the other side as a prosecutor, those victims know they will never see their loved one again in the flesh. So emotions run high.”

Attorney Brandon Brown was an associate at Lyke’s private firm for years. Lyke acted as a mentor for him—and every troubled young man he came across.

“He understood that his responsibility as an advocate in the criminal practice went beyond just representing young men and women in the well of the courtroom,” Brown says, recalling how Lyke would act as a father figure to his clients, guiding them in much more than just law.

“He wanted the people that he repre-

“I saw a lot of, in my opinion at the time, maltreatment of African Americans, people who look like me, by the police. That motivated me to want to go to law school to defend those people who really couldn’t defend themselves.”— Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr.

Lyke spent 15 years in private practice representing people from disadvantaged neighborhoods and backgrounds. “I’m most proud of that,” he says.

Before joining the defense table, Lyke spent six years at the State’s Attorney’s Office, a move he says he never would have made if it weren’t for the guidance of former Judge David Erickson, a senior instructor and the Trial Advocacy Program director at Chicago-Kent College of Law.

At the time, Erickson was working at the State’s Attorney’s Office and coaching Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy team, of which Lyke was a star member.

“He told me I could help more people as a prosecutor than I ever could as a defense attorney. I told him to start explaining that to me because sending more African Americans to jail, how is that helpful?” he says. “

But Erickson convinced Lyke that being a prosecutor was the right path.

“If you think injustice has been done, you have the power as a prosecutor to dismiss the case or reduce it down to where your version of justice may be had,” Lyke recalls Erickson saying. “As a defense attor-

sented to respect him, but he also wanted them to know that he respected them equally,” says Brown. “He always wanted the client and their family to know that we are all on level ground, and that by no means because I’m a lawyer, am I better than you.”

Lyke taught Brown everything he knew, but especially to not cut corners.

He also remembers the way that Lyke shined as a litigator.

“If you wanted to upset him and turn him into the best lawyer in the world, all it required was a judge trying to push an unjust outcome or a prosecutor trying to ask for an unjust outcome, and that would bring out the best advocate in John,” says Brown. “When I hear people talk about some of the incredible trial lawyers that have come through this city, if you’re not mentioning his name, then you are not in the know.”

Lyke’s days as a litigator may have ended, but his current role may be more important.

He knows that there aren’t many judges who look like him, and that allows him to

“bring a different background, attitude, and life experiences to the bench.”

That is important in many ways, but particularly in a changing society where he says that he has never seen the “level of disrespect for the rule of law or for law enforcement as rampant as it is now.”

“Our nation is at a crossroads. As I look at the news and the internet and I see all this violence just permeating across the country, you have to hold people accountable or they will continue to do whatever they do,” says Lyke. “If there are no consequences to violence, if there are no consequences to breaking the law, there’s no consequences to disrespecting the law and those who are in charge of enforcing the law, we as a country are in trouble.”

And Lyke all too well knows the consequences of that violence.

In 2017 his son was struck by three stray bullets while attending a funeral for an old school friend. His son survived—with only a limp and some scars as a reminder of a close call.

Lyke didn’t let that tragedy change him, or the way he does his job.

“I wasn’t angry at the person who shot my son. In fact, as a Christian, I love him, too. Am I upset with him? Absolutely, I’m upset, but I don’t hate him,” he says. “I’m not angry at him, but I’m certain he has problems as well.”

That empathy is something he brings with him to every trial and shows to every defendant.

“I don’t judge anyone. I judge your actions, but I don’t know your backstory. I don’t know what brought you to one of the worst days of your life to appear in front of me. I think a good jurist is a person that can understand that and can weigh it all,” Lyke says. “There’s good in all of us, because that’s what I believe that my Lord and Savior has taught me, irrespective of what your actions were. You have to be held accountable for your actions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a bad person.”

Lyke knows there’s too much crime, violence, and injustice in the world to fix in one courtroom.

But as long as he sits on the bench, justice will prevail in his courtroom—and young people who grew up like him will be able to look at Lyke and see what is possible.

“I didn’t have the highest LSAT score. My GPA was pretty high, but I didn’t come from Harvard or any place. Chicago-Kent gave a chance to the poor kid from Robert Taylor Housing Projects, who on many occasions had to get on the floor when bullets were flying,” he says. “When I would hear police sirens and bullets and people yelling and screaming and all that chaos, I had to mentally take myself out of there and dream about becoming a lawyer.”

Seeing Is Believing

“I AM TRULY A PUBLIC INTEREST ATTORNEY AT HEART. As a child, I wanted to become a lawyer to advocate for those who could not advocate for themselves. I had zero exposure to law -firm life before attending law school. I did not see myself practicing as a partner in big law,” says Sulema Medrano ’09.

But that’s exactly where she ended up.

Medrano is an equity partner at Dentons, the largest law firm in the world, where she focuses her practice in complex commercial and insurance litigation. She recently transitioned her practice from Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, where she was also an equity partner. Medrano started her career in private practice at SmithAmundsen.

Medrano didn’t start in big law. Her first gig was as an assistant state’s attorney in the Appeals and Domestic Violence divisions at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago. Medrano attributes much of current success to the skill set she developed as an ASA.

“Starting my career as a prosecutor and appellate lawyer couldn’t have teed me up better. My first assignment in appeals was an amazing opportunity. While preparing briefs, I read the trial transcripts of some of the best lawyers out there, true American heroes,” she says. “When I think about my career and the cases that have impacted me the most, I always return to my days as an ASA. Having the privilege of advocating for victims of crime shaped me as a lawyer and as a person.”

only folks in a room that look like us,” he says. “She, like myself, very often feels like we’re just incredibly lucky to be here. What we want to be able to do is to reach back and to help out folks so they can get here as well.”

Hispanic women make up less than .9 percent of equity partners in large law firms in the United States, and Medrano is one of them. She now works vigorously to build the pipeline and pave the path for other Latina lawyers.

“Like a good friend of mine says, ‘You’ve got to see it to believe it.’ Before attending law school, I had never met a lawyer who looked like me. But once I did, it was ground-breaking,” she says. “It’s empowering and inspiring to see women you identify with in positions that you aspire to one day reach. I try to share my story at every opportunity, hoping someone will find my journey encouraging.”

Medrano’s passion for education resulted in her being tapped by former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to serve on the Chicago School Board last year. While she no longer serves on the board, she still feels a responsibility to help build the educational pipeline for future lawyers and professionals.

“Staying involved in pro bono and community initiatives is what continues to drive my passion as a lawyer. We have the knowledge, skill set, and access to resources to make a positive change for others, and it is our responsibility to do so.”— Sulema Medrano

While she eventually moved into private practice, Medrano has never lost sight of the reason she became a lawyer.

“Staying involved in pro bono and community initiatives is what continues to drive my passion as a lawyer. We have the knowledge, skill set, and access to resources to make a positive change for others, and it is our responsibility to do so,” she says.

Medrano has helped lead and organize a number of pro bono and community initiatives during her time serving the Hispanic National Bar Association in her role as regional president and chair of the Latina Commission, as well as her role on the Board of Directors for the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois.

During that time, Medrano worked closely with fellow Chicago-Kent College of Law alum Juan Morado Jr. ’07, who was serving as president of the Hispanic Lawyers Association of Illinois.

“It’s not uncommon for people like myself or Sulema to be the

“I’m a first-generation college graduate. I was able to mobilize myself economically through education and I want other diverse women to know they can too,” she says. “But we first have to open the door and give them an opportunity to succeed.”

Medrano emphasized the important role that her mentors played over the years in her career and professional development.

She is particularly grateful for her time on the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy team. She credits the program, and the influence of former Judge David Erickson, who directs the Trial Advocacy Program, with teaching her the skills and confidence she needed to succeed.

“I try to tell him at every stage of my career—thank you,” she says. “Since stepping down from the bench, he has dedicated so much of his life to the program and has influenced the careers of so many.”

Medrano spent several years after graduating law school supporting the Chicago-Kent Trial Advocacy Program as a volunteer coach. She continues to be an active member of the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy alumni group.

“God forbid if something ever happens and I’m on the trial for my life, Sulema is the lawyer that I want representing me,” says Morado. “She’s, bar none, an incredible litigator. I have a tremendous amount of respect for her.”

Advocating From the Heart

“I ALWAYS ENVISIONED BEING A lawyer as being in the courtroom,” says Bryce Hensley ’17. “I wanted to be in front of a jury or talking to a judge. It’s just where I always saw myself. Once I got to actually experience it in trial ad, I knew that was where I belonged.”

Hensley initially came to Chicago-Kent College of Law with the goal of being a prosecutor, but within days of arriving, he fell in love with personal injury law instead.

He’s been at Romanucci & Blandin LLC—a plaintiff’s personal injury firm— since he graduated from Chicago-Kent. He just made partner over the summer— at 31 years old and just over 5.5 years into practice.

“A lot of people go through life and horrible things happen. They’re injured. They’re hurt or become sick in some way, and they don’t know that there are options out there to help them,” he says, “So I took that and I ran with it because I wanted to provide that help. Now I’m in a position where I’m able to do that on a massive scale.”

Much of Hensley’s work is in the area of mass torts. In spring 2023, after five years of working on a toxic exposure case, Hensley helped secure a nine-figure global settlement for more than 870 plaintiffs (370 of his own clients) in the Willowbrook ethylene oxide cases who had been diagnosed with cancer and other illnesses due to toxic air emissions from local sterilization facilities.

When he talks about the case, Hensley doesn’t want to talk about the money. For him, it’s about justice for his clients.

“It’s humbling in a lot of ways. These are people who suffered the worst kind of conditions imaginable,” Hensley says. “Most of them diagnosed with cancer, a portion of them being diagnosed with miscarriages and other health conditions. The devastation those diagnoses can have on somebody and hearing those stories not just once or twice, but more than 350 times over, emotionally, it’s a lot.”

“Nothing can replace the time, the lives, the health that’s lost, but the result is something that is justice,” he adds. “Especially knowing that these companies

are now gone from the area completely, they no longer operate there. That was a huge victory in and of itself.”

But the results of his practice have gone beyond individual settlements.

“You always want to see results at the end of the day, but you want to make an impact larger than just that specific case,” he says. “The standards surrounding ethylene oxide are more stringent now, facilities have shut down, communities are safer, people are safer as a result. Those are the kind of things you strive for. “

Hensley earned his stripes represent-

“The thing that I love most about what I do is helping people through the worst moments of their lives and helping them obtain some form of justice for it.”

—Bryce Hensley

ing 75 victims of the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas mass shooting just days after being sworn in as a lawyer. In his 6 years of practice, Hensley has helped over 530 people recover for their losses.

“The thing that I love most about what I do is helping people through the worst moments of their lives and helping them obtain some form of justice for it,” Hensley says. “With the cases I’ve been fortunate enough to work on, it gives me that opportunity to help people, but on the largest scale possible.”

Hensley’s connection to his clients, his recognition of their humanity, and empathy for their plight, in addition to his work ethic, is what makes him such a great lawyer, says Antonio Romanucci, founding partner at Romanucci & Blandin.

It’s also set him on a path toward future success in his profession.

“We get clients after tragedy, after catastrophe, after heartbreak, death. We get them at their worst. If we don’t give them the empathy that they need, they

won’t trust us. They won’t have confidence in us,” says Romanucci. “You can’t teach somebody that. You can’t force somebody to want to take care of the client. Bryce cares about the end result in finding justice and gaining accountability.”

“I have great predictions for him—in the future that he will be Chicago’s top litigator.”

Hensley says he owes much of his success to the Trial Advocacy Program at Chicago-Kent, particularly Judge David A. Erickson, the director of the program.

“Coach, mentor, role model, whatever you want to call it, that was him,” Hensley says of Erickson. “At every single major crossroads that I had, he was there in some way, shape, or form: after my first year of law school, during my second and third years of law school, after law school. Just across the board, every major decision I ever had to make, there was Judge Erickson pointing me in the right direction.”

Hensley credits Erickson with teaching him foundational law skills such as how to cross-examine witnesses, how to talk about evidence, how to present in front of the jury, among other skills.

But that’s not what made his experience at Chicago-Kent so special.

“There were life lessons that you learned through the trial ad program that you can’t get anywhere else, and there’s no amount of education or price you could pay for that,” he says. “There’s that confidence that you know how to litigate a case, how to try a case. Walking into a courtroom right out of law school, surrounded by some of the best lawyers in the country, and being able to sit there and hold my own—when push comes to shove, Kent’s trial team equipped me for that better than I could have ever imagined.”

Hensley is currently one of a team of attorneys representing the family of Tyre Nichols, who was killed by Memphis police in January 2023.

He’ll also be heading up Romanucci & Blandin’s new wrongful conviction team along with continuing to lead the mass tort department for the firm.

Also on the docket: returning to Chicago-Kent every chance he gets to help coach and mentor the next generation of litigators in the Trial Advocacy Program.

“The program is really tight knit. It’s a family,” he says. “I don’t want it to be lost that there are a lot of people who volunteer their time and energy to make sure that this program stays afloat. I can’t emphasize how important that is and how much of an impact it has.”

“I mean, if there’s any testament to that, it’s me.”

The Beginning

IT WAS 1982, AND CHICAGO-KENT COLLEGE OF LAW

Professor Warren D. Wolfson, a former judge, was sharing his desired roster for the school’s first trial advocacy team with former Chicago-Kent Dean Lewis M. Collens.

Carla Lombardo ’83 and John Hedblom ’83 were obvious choices, and Collens was pleased.

The third choice was H. Patrick Morris ’83.

“I’m not sure he’ll graduate,” the dean remarked, incredulous.

“That’s OK,” Wolfson responded. “I see something in him.”

At least, that’s the story as Morris heard it.

“This was the beginning of my string of straight As,” he says. “I had never had straight As before, and I got straight As in trial ad.”

That first trial advocacy team made it as far as the quarterfinals of the American Bar Association National Trial Advocacy Competition that was held in Houston. According to an old April 4, 1983, edition of The Record, the team came in third, falling short of Boston College by only two points.

But Morris didn’t get used to losing.

After graduating, he joined the team at Johnson and Bell, where he hit the ground running. The firm’s long-time leader and namesake, William “Bill” Johnson, took Morris under his wing.

“I was lucky that when I started, Bill was at the peak of a very illustrious career. I was the young lawyer working those cases up,” he says. “Clients didn’t come to Bill to settle cases. They came to him when the biggest cases couldn’t settle and they had to be tried.”

Johnson was up against ace attorney and media darling Phillip “Phil” Corboy.

“Phil Corboy was the best-prepared lawyer that I’ve ever seen, even to this day,” says Morris. “When Phil would turn like a shark on you or one of your witnesses and just eviscerate them, you had to find some way to stand up without your knees buckling and respond to it. I watched Bill do it just so calmly, so effortlessly.”

“As a young lawyer, it indelibly changes you,” he continues.

Morris then assisted Johnson on a case that grabbed headlines across the country. He was helping Johnson defend a wire and cable manufacturer accused of fault in the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire that killed 165 people in Southgate, Kentucky in 1977.

The duo won a not guilty verdict from the jury.

“I learned how to handle intense pressure, intense sympathy, but I learned that if you have a good case and you don’t get distracted and you don’t get nervous, you can still win,” Morris says.

That set the groundwork for Morris’ continued work in mass torts, which he still does at Johnson and Bell, some 40 years later.

“It’s medical device companies like Medline and Johnson & Johnson. It’s oil companies like ExxonMobil,” he says. “I’ve been really fortunate to have the confidence of those kinds of clients who have all kinds of access to lawyers. They can pick the best and brightest lawyers in the country, but when they need cases tried, they turn to me.”

He also handles a lot of First Amendment and media cases, representing figures from the Chicago Tribune to Dallas Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith.

“Nancy Hamilton was my first-year classmate and friend,” he says. “She and her partner, Charles ‘Chip’ Babcock, of Jackson Walker based in Houston, were defending two of the reporters from the Chicago Tribune in a defamation case and needed someone who

“I learned how to handle intense pressure, intense sympathy, but I learned that if you have a good case and you don’t get distracted and you don’t get nervous, you can still win.” —H. Patrick Morris

The case centered on the Tribune’s reporting of the wrongful prosecutions of two men for the murder of Jeanine Nicarico. Morris and his team won a not guilty verdict. The contested story went on to win a Pulitzer Prize.

His success led to other high-profile clients, including TV personality Dr. Phil, who was accused of creating a hostile work environment. Morris had to defend his client to the media

Morris wasn’t worried. He’s never cowered from uncomfortable assignments. He received one early in his career when he was a board member at the Defense Research Institute (DRI), an organization of defense attorneys, that changed not just his career trajectory, but his life.

“Sheryl Willert was the first African American president of the DRI. She had this image of me as a frat boy-type,” he remembers. “She said she was going to do me the biggest favor anyone ever has done for me. ‘I’m going to make you chair of the National Diversity Committee’, which didn’t exist yet.”

He was tasked with founding the committee, defining the group’s mission, and creating instructional seminars. The committee still exists today and uses many of the frameworks that Morris originally established.

He says Willert kept her promise—it was the biggest favor he’s ever received.

“It gave me so much experience that I would not have otherwise

knew the Cook County Courthouse.”

had. I thank her all the time,” he says. “It resonated with me. Being an Irish Catholic lawyer in the city of Chicago, I’m certainly not a minority. But I knew the stories from my relatives. The ‘Irish Need Not Apply’ stuff is true.”

Morris realized that he needed to convince leadership at top firms to buy into the concept, or he wouldn’t get anything done. He sat down with the leaders of the 60 biggest firms in the DRI, laid out his diversity plan, and why they should follow it.

“I got a buy-in from almost all of them. Some of them were hardcore southern firms too. This was the late ’80s and early ’90s. It’s not like [how] we look at things today,” he says. “I think in some respects, they would listen to me because I was a white male.”

He adds, “I’m very happy about where we started and what we did. I’m still somewhat disappointed on the lack of progress that we’ve made on so many fronts.”

Morris has learned a lot about diversity working with his wife, a fellow trial lawyer.

“I could see jurors relating to her in a way that they weren’t relating to me. When you talk to them afterward with her there, you get insights that you don’t get when you’re just sitting there as a white male,” he says.

“He’s a student of human nature and that’s a critical element of being a good lawyer and a trial lawyer especially,” adds David Fanning ’01, shareholder at Johnson and Bell

Fanning has worked closely with Morris for the last 20 years.

Fanning sees Morris as a mentor.

“He’s always respected the individuality of everybody on the team, me included, and he has been a champion for all of the people that he’s worked for,” says Fanning.

For Morris, it all goes back to those first successes on the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy team.

“Warren was without exaggeration the finest cross-examiner in the country. There’s a methodology, and he drilled it into us,” says Morris. “He was with us every single day, seven days a week, just teaching us everything you can imagine from little ministerial things to how to stand, to whether to use a podium, to how to use notes, to things that I still use today.”

Former Judge David Erickson, who now leads Chicago-Kent’s Trial Advocacy Program, was also there in the early days.

“He made us believe in ourselves and he just cared so much about us,” says Morris. “He just really made you want to be better. Sometimes when you would do something and see his look of disappointment. It was almost worse than anything he could tell you.”

Inspired by his favorite Chicago-Kent instructors, Morris has returned to teach on an adjunct basis at Chicago-Kent and coaches the trial advocacy teams whenever he can.

“We just hired a fantastic lawyer who’s from Kent’s trial team, Danielle Austriaco ’21,” he says. “One of my partners said once, ’We can’t just hire everyone off the Kent trial team.’ I said, ’Why not?’”

A Culture of Excellence

It started in 1981 with one class of 12 Chicago-Kent College of Law students enrolled in a new elective course titled Trial Advocacy. The course was taught using a new “radical” method of instruction combining traditional lecture, instructor demonstration, student performance, critique, and repetition of performance. From that course, Trial Advocacy took off, becoming the most popular elective at the school. It would also give birth to the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy team.

During the 1981–1982 school year, there was only one team of three students competing in only one competition. Today more than 200 law schools have trial advocacy teams. Chicago-Kent now competes in 10–12 competitions per year, in addition to two national competitions that end in a national championship. The subject matter of these competitions runs the legal gambit—from criminal, torts, contracts, and even legal ethics. Chicago-Kent students have won championships and individual awards for the last 40 years.

Forty years brought four national championships: 1988, 2007, 2008, and 2015. This “world series” of law school competition is sponsored by the American Bar Association, the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Texas Young Lawyers Bar Association. It is a national tournament with more than 200 law schools, 300 trial teams, and 900 student advocates competing across the federal regions. Hundreds of trials later, 24 regional winners meet in a Texas city for the national finals. Our trial teams have been Midwest regional champions 30 times in the last 40 years.

In addition to the national titles that Chicago-Kent teams have won, they have been finalists and semifinalists in more than 100 invitational competitions. Individually, our student advocates have been awarded more than 50 best advocate awards and numerous awards for best opening, closing, direct, and cross examination. Twice in the last 10 years, our team has won the National Ethics Competition. On top of that, we have produced five national best advocates. All five are now proud Chicago-Kent alumni with incredible careers.

The awards fill the cabinets in the law school lobby. They are symbols of our rich history of graduating some of the very best trial lawyers in this country. We have been recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 10 trial advocacy programs in the country for the last 25 years. These awards and rankings do not really tell the story of the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy team. They may chronical success and accolades, but they are not our legacy. Our legacy is the alumni, like the ones you read about here, who have gone on to have successful careers in private practice, government, and business. They have become academics, partners in firms, government supervisors, judges in both the trial and appellate courts…and even two U.S. congressmen. No matter their career paths, these alumni have all continued the culture of excellence that the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy team graduates.

That is our Legacy.

— David A. Erickson: Director of the Trial Advocacy Program, Co-Director of Criminal Litigation Program, Senior Instructor

David A. Erickson

Class Notes

1996

John Heil, Germantown Hills, Ill., a shareholder with the regional law firm of Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen, P.C., was recently named as the managing partner of the firm’s Peoria, Illinois, office. Heil co-chairs Heyl Royster’s business and commercial litigation practice group and leads its attorney mentoring program.

1999

Lou Chronowski, Chicago, joined Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg, LLP as partner in its renowned motor vehicle group.

2002

Blair Dawson, Chicago, is proud to be a distinguished member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ (IAPP) Fellowship of Information Privacy (FIP) and is certified by IAPP, including for CIPP/ US, CIPP/E, and CIPM. Dawson is also pursuing a Master of Science in Cybersecurity to be completed this fall, and is an advisory board member for The Cyber Helpline, a mentor for the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) mentorship program. Dawson will also be serving as an adjunct professor in the Chicago-Kent College of Law Certificate in Privacy Law program starting in spring 2024.

2003

Alex Abate, Chicago, recently founded a new law firm, Adeszko Abate & Green, LLC, located in Chicago. His firm concentrates its practice in representing injured individuals in personal injury and workers’ compensation claims.

Shannon Fura, Chicago, is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the founding of Page Fura, P.C., an international trade and customs law firm based in Chicago; the firm was founded with fellow Chicago-Kent College of Law alum Jeremy Page ’86. Fura was honored to present the keynote at the ExpoParks International Trade Summit in San Jose, Costa Rica, in September, and was elected as the chair of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Foreign-Trade Zones based in Washington, D.C.

2008

Margaret Battersby Black, Elmhurst, Ill., was awarded the Carole K. Bellows Women of Influence Award that recognizes zealous advocacy for action of women’s issues and leadership in promoting women in the legal community by the Illinois State Bar Association at its member rewards event this summer.

Justin Nemunaitis, Dallas, has been recognized on the 2023 Texas Rising Stars list of the state’s top young lawyers based on his work in intellectual property law.

2014

John Buscemi, Chicago, was elevated to partner at the Chicago office of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP on September 1, 2023. He concentrates his practice on insurance coverage law.

Rob Kohen, Chicago, has been included in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, which recognizes associates and other lawyers who are earlier in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice in the United States. He was

recently promoted to partner at the Illinois law firm of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, where he focuses his practice on personal injury and medical malpractice.

2016

Kenneth Matuszewski, Chicago, and Martin Gould ’14 were recently installed as the chair and first vice chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section. As the leaders of one of the largest bar associations for young lawyers in the country, Matuszewski and Gould will focus on honoring the rich tradition of the YLS and the 150 year-anniversary of the CBA, shaping the organization’s future. At Chicago-Kent, Gould was Matuszewski’s Legal Writing I and II teaching assistant; to this day, Matuszewski credits both Gould and Chicago-Kent as the cornerstone for his legal writing and research abilities.

2017

Alyssa Jutovsky, Chicago, has been promoted to partner in the investment funds group in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She concentrates her practice on representing private fund sponsors in connection with structuring, negotiating, forming, and operating private investment funds, including buyout funds, growth equity funds, debt funds, real estate funds, and other private investment vehicles, including single asset funds and special purpose vehicles.

2019

Jennifer Ashley, Chicago, Has been named in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers, one of the oldest and most respected peer-review publications in the legal profession. Attorneys named to the Best Lawyers in America list are reviewed by their peers based on professional expertise and undergo an authentication process to make sure they are in current practice and in good standing. She is a partner at the Illinois law firm of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, where she focuses her practice on personal injury.

Michael Schostok, Chicago, has been included in the 2023 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch, which recognizes associates and other lawyers who are early in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice in the United States. He is an attorney at the Illinois law firm of Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, where he focuses his practice on personal injury and medical malpractice.

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In Memoriam

Eugene Crane ’53

Charles A. Brizzolara ’57

Darwin P. Kal ’58

Evan D. Roberts ’61

Martin A. Tiersky ’63

Jerry L. Bepko ’65

Leonard J. Petrucelli ’72

Andrew R. Alex ’74

Kim R. Denkewalter ’74

Joan C. Wing née Montgomery ’74

Steven A. Shapiro ’75

Stephen B. Engelman ’76

Conrad J. Knuth ’78

Patricia J. Moy ’85

John W. Mcnulty ’94

Paul A. Greco ’95

Paul R. Day ’00

Tony T. Howard III ’06

Daniel Wartan ‘19

Power the Difference

As the leading law school in the country that is affiliated with a technology university, Chicago-Kent College of Law understands the complex ways that tech, law, business, and our world are inextricably linked. That’s why we equip every student with the timeless skills that they need to meet the demands of legal practice today, tomorrow, and far into the future. Starting today, your investment in Chicago-Kent is part of Power the Difference: Our Campaign for Illinois Tech. Thanks to your contribution, students will be immersed in the engaging, hands-on experiences that are crucial to successful careers. Ultimately, your investment will help graduates step into a courtroom, boardroom, or any other room and make an immediate impact.

To learn more and to make a gift, please visit alumni.kentlaw.iit.edu.