The Loyola University College of Law Honor Board is an elected body of thirteen students who serve in an advisory capacity to the Dean of the College of Law. The Board is charged with investigating alleged Honor Code violations, holding hearings on alleged violations when appropriate, and recommending sanctions to the Dean of the College of Law when it finds that a violation has been committed. The operations and proceedings of the Honor Board are governed by the provisions of the Loyola University College of Law Honor Code.
The Honor Code is a body of rules and standards which governs students' conduct with respect to all academic matters. It defines prohibited conduct, Honor Board proceedings, and sanctions available in the event of an Honor Code violation.
Loyola Law Review
The Loyola Law Review is a scholarly periodical published four times per year by the editors and members of the Law Review. The Editorial Board extends candidacy for the review based on scholastic achievement at the end of the first year (the top 10 percent of the full-time students and the top 10 percent of the part-time students are invited to candidacy), and based on an annual write-on competition (the top 20 percent of the full-time students and the top 20 percent of the part-time students are invited to participate). Students are not eligible for candidacy unless they have completely fulfilled the course requirements of the first year of the full- or part-time curriculum in which they originally enrolled. The candidates participate in a program of legal research, writing, and editing leading to the publication of the Law Review.
Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law
The Loyola Journal of Public Interest Law (JPIL) is a scholarly journal that is published twice a year by its candidates, members, and editors with the support of the Gillis W. Long Poverty Law Center. The JPIL publishes articles, student comments, and casenotes that provide the legal and academic community with a scholarly perspective on the issues facing the poor, elderly, and children, among others.
Invitations for candidacy are extended by the Editor-in-Chief to students who comprise the top twenty-five percent of the freshman class following the second semester of their first year.
Students may write on to the journal if they are in the top 40 percent of the class as long as they have not begun their senior year of study and have completed 30 semester hours of study. The write on competition will be conducted by the Journal each Spring and is open to students in the top 25 to 40 percent. Candidates must write either a comment or casenote to satisfy membership requirements.
The Loyola Maritime Law Journal is a publication which is published annually and provides an avenue for research and writing by students, faculty, and practitioners in the dynamic and exciting field of maritime law. Editorial board members are selected annually from the editorial staff. Students who have completed all requirements of the first year of the full- or part-time curriculums and who are in the top third of their respective programs are invited to apply for candidacy for journal membership. Membership can also be extended to rising second year students who are in the top third of their respective program.
Moot Court, a comprehensive program in which students are given an opportunity to participate in intramural and intercollegiate moot court competitions, offers training in the art of persuasive oral advocacy and the skills of effective brief writing.
A moot court board, composed of six senior law students, is responsible for the organization, administration, and selection of members of the national moot court teams who compete with other law schools in the region and nationwide.
Selection for positions with the program is made on a competitive basis, with each participant graded individually on each appearance before a bench of judges. Eliminations are made and selections are based on those grades.
Loyola teams have a national reputation for excellence and regularly win or place high in regional and national competitions and is currently ranked in the top 16 of all Moot Court programs in the United States.
The Trial Advocacy Program, formerly The Board of Advocates/Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), was organized in the fall of 1982. The purpose of the Trial Advocacy Program is to prepare students for a smooth transition from the study of law to the practice of law. The objectives of this program are educational and practical.
Trial Advocacy’s purpose is to develop basic litigation skills that serve any area of legal practice. Skills are honed in a “controlled clinic” environment using a hands-on teaching style. The Trial Advocacy Program focuses on learning by doing with practical instruction, demonstrations, feedback and critique used to direct student learning. Students have the opportunity of representing a “mock” client in a courtroom setting. The program teaches students the strategy of a trial and how to conduct themselves in a courtroom setting.
Trial Advocacy teaches students how to speak persuasively, how to conduct direct and cross examinations, and how to prepare and present persuasive opening and closing arguments. Students are also taught how to impeach witnesses, tender experts and introduce evidence. Students learn to analyze facts and think on their feet while displaying a dynamic courtroom presentation. Trial Advocacy students have the opportunity to attend and compete in regional, state and national trial advocacy competitions. Trial Advocacy provides students with the foundation to successfully advocate, in the future, for real clients in the courtroom.