Rae Kyritsi (JD ‘12), Matt Adair (JD ’09), and Anthony Plaid (JD ’08) are key leaders within Loyola’s advocacy program, which places a high premium on nurturing homegrown talent.

Honoring homegrown talent

Loyola’s advocacy program develops students—and coaches

As a Loyola 1L, Rae Kyritsi (JD ‘12) already knew she wanted to be a professional mediator. She told Maureen Kieffer, now the School of Law’s assistant dean for career services. Although dispute resolution wasn’t on the office’s list of externship options at the time, Kieffer recommended that Kyritsi contact Chicago’s Center for Conflict Resolution (CCR).

“I certified to be a volunteer mediator in my rising 2L summer,” Kyritsi recalls. “I was able to mediate real-life cases throughout my last two years of law school, and Maureen helped make that happen. I felt supported in my career by Loyola even before I started looking for a job.”

It was the beginning of a common journey in Loyola’s advocacy program: from student to coach to adjunct faculty member. Today, as programs director for the CCR, Kyritsi says the support she received as a student has continued throughout her work as an adjunct and former coach of Loyola’s Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot teams. Loyola’s advocacy program places a high premium on nurturing homegrown talent by recruiting top competitors on Loyola’s moot court, mock trial, and dispute resolution teams to coach the students who come after them—and to become respected faculty members who bring their professional expertise to the classroom.

“At Loyola, we provide our advocacy coaches with recognition and status through annual awards and appointments as adjunct faculty,” says Zelda B. Harris, director of Loyola’s Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy.

Kyritsi adds, “As a coach and adjunct, I’ve had the experience of being highly valued and receiving opportunities to grow my instruction and training skills. I chose Loyola for a lot of reasons—and I feel like Loyola continues to choose me.”

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Rae Kyritsi (JD ‘12) says the support she received as a student has continued throughout her work as an adjunct and former coach of Loyola’s Willem C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot teams.

The value of continuity

Like Kyritsi, Matt Adair (JD ’09) benefited as an advocacy student from support that inspired him to emulate his mentors. An attorney at the Chicago firm of Cooney & Conway, Adair became a coach for Loyola’s Jessup International Law Moot Court teams the year after he graduated and began teaching an appellate advocacy legal writing course a year after that. He is now director of the moot court program, leading the honors course associated with Loyola’s nationally ranked program.

Invited by his own Jessup coach, Ed Shin, to become an assistant coach, and mentored by his own legal writing advocacy professor, John Mitchell, Adair was determined to walk in their footsteps after graduation. “It was incredible how much of their time these two guys—now my friends—would offer me,” he says, “and with that experience, I feel like anything I can do for students now, I want to pay forward.”

“It’s a huge communal effort, and maybe that’s why so many of our alumni stay involved as coaches and why Loyola recruits us to become coaches. It’s in your blood a little bit."

Anthony Plaid (JD ’08) is a Cook County public defender and longtime former coach for Loyola’s mock trial and moot court programs. “Loyola recognizes the value in having practicing attorneys teach classes—and it does a great job in recruiting and helping keep alumni engaged in the moot court and mock trial programs,” he says. “If you look at any of our teams, you’ll find the coaches are mostly people who were on the teams while they were at Loyola. I took over from my coach, and the people I coached took over from me. That continuity helps, because coaches are familiar with both the competition and with Loyola.”

Matt Adair (JD ’09) became a coach for Loyola moot court teams the year after he graduated and is now director of the moot court program, leading the honors course associated with Loyola’s nationally ranked program.

Sharing skills in the classroom—and across the law school

As successful practitioners and engaged alumni, Loyola law grads bring a range of skills to the advocacy classroom and the law school in general. For nearly a decade, Plaid has taught a semester-long trial practice course, later adding an intensive, week-long version. He’s also an instructor in the Professional Identity Formation course.

Kyritsi teaches alternative dispute resolution in Loyola’s Weekend JD program as well as the full-time division. She also co-teaches a weekend-long mediation workshop and is an instructor in the Professional Identity Formation course and a member of the Dean’s Diversity Council.

“As a coach and adjunct, I’ve had the experience of being highly valued and receiving opportunities to grow my instruction and training skills.”

Besides teaching the moot course honors course, Adair recently created a course on financial wellness for new lawyers, and he serves as executive board secretary for Loyola’s Alumni Board of Governors.

Anthony Plaid (JD ’08) is a Cook County public defender and longtime former coach for Loyola’s mock trial and moot court programs. He’s also an instructor in the Professional Identity Formation course.

Teaching: a benefit in both directions

Loyola’s advocacy program recognizes that besides preparing the next generation of lawyers, teaching has solid benefits for the adjunct faculty member’s career. As part of his job, Plaid trains public defenders through the offices of the Cook County public defender and the state appellate defender. The addition of his moot court experience and adjunct status to his resume helped put him on those training teams. “Teaching people to do it helps you practice it,” he says.

“Loyola recognizes the value in having practicing attorneys teach classes—and it does a great job in recruiting and helping keep alumni engaged in the moot court and mock trial programs”

Practice and teaching “really feed each other,” Kyritsi says. “I learn things teaching students that I bring into my job, and I learn things in my job that I bring back into the classroom.”

“When you’re involved with a moot court program,” Adair says, “you’re working with very smart students on a really complex problem. Your brain is getting a workout, too. Especially when you’re a young associate and the work you’re doing may not be the most exciting, that’s valuable.”

The cycle continues

Even outside the law school, Loyola’s advocacy alumni keep their connections to their law school strong. Kyritsi offers a CCR externship to Loyola students, and she regularly hires Loyola law grads. “Some of our best attorneys were exposed to a lot of dispute resolution opportunities at Loyola and have an excellent understanding of how dispute resolution fits into the advocacy field,” she says. “I think that strength is unique to Loyola graduates.”

At Cooney and Conway—“a proud firm of Loyola lawyers,” Adair says, he continues a long tradition of giving back to his law school, not just through coaching and teaching, but also by hiring and mentoring new Loyola graduates. Like Plaid, Adair stopped actively coaching when he became a parent to young children, but as director of the moot court program, he still sees students weekly. “I’ll always keep one foot in the water,” he says.

“When you’re a student in Loyola’s moot court program,” Adair adds, “you gain a lot of specific skills, but to me, the greater benefit is that you have to do something really hard and you do it with the help of your teammates and coaches, much as you work as part of a team in a law firm.

“It’s a huge communal effort, and maybe that’s why so many of our alumni stay involved as coaches and why Loyola recruits us to become coaches. It’s in your blood a little bit.” –Gail Mansfield (October 2022)

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