B
ecause he’s worked
as a prosecutor
and public defender
for more than three
decades, Colin Nelson
(JD ’76) understands both sides of
criminal litigation—and he puts that
deep knowledge to work in
Fallout
(North Star Press, 2012) and
Reprisal
(North Star Press, 2010). Nelson’s
thrillers feature Minneapolis lawyer
Zehra Hassan, who takes on cases
involving hot-button issues including
terrorism, human trafficking, and
religious tolerance.
Nelson began writing fiction
in the 1980s, but never tried to get
his work published. After he wrote
When Can I Tell My Boss, “I Quit!” Seven
Lessons for Financial and Personal
Rebirth in Retirement
(iUniverse Inc.,
2006), his publisher asked for fiction,
“so I dusted off those early novels and
brought them up to date,” he says.
With the third Zehra Hassan book,
Flashpoint
, due out in spring 2014,
Nelson is gearing up for a favorite
part of the authoring process: touring.
“Writing’s a solitary, lonely process,
and getting out to talk to people
about my books is fun,” he says—
especially when his audiences ask for
real-life trial stories.
“My books are fiction, but the
courtroom scenes are based on
reality,” says Nelson, who constantly
inserts real-life experiences and
characters, like a judge who used
hand puppets on the bench, into
his novels.
“Legal training is invaluable for
many things besides the practice of
law,” he says. “A lawyer is presented
with a jumble of information, and has
to organize those facts into a concise,
clear, persuasive case.
“That’s similar to the writing
process, in which I have to fashion
information to make a plot, present
it in a suspenseful way, and make my
characters interesting or engaging.
And a lawyer’s skills at listening and
knowing which questions to ask have
been useful as I conduct research for
my books.”
Now working on her 15th book,
a romantic comedy (release date: May
2014), Laura Caldwell (JD ’92) has the
writing process down pat. Early in her
law practice, “which was intellectually
challenging, but not creative,” she
says, Caldwell decided she needed
an artistic pursuit and started
writing fiction.
Once she sold her first novel,
about a Loyola law graduate who
takes a trip to Rome and Greece,
her publisher demanded more…
and more. For years, she produced
a work of fiction—either a romance
or a mystery, including the critically
acclaimed Izzy McNeil mystery
series—every six months.
She also directs Life After
Innocence, a Loyola-housed program
that helps people exonerated
of crimes reenter society and
reclaim their rights as citizens after
imprisonment.
The project grew out of the
case of Jovan Mosley, a Chicagoan
charged with murder and jailed for
six years with no trial date. After
discovering his case while researching
a novel, Caldwell joined efforts with
criminal defense attorney Catharine
O’Daniel to prove Mosley’s innocence.
Those experiences were turned into
Caldwell’s first nonfiction book,
Long
Way Home: A Young Man Lost in the
System and the Two Women Who Found
Him
(Free Press, 2010).
Although she used her mystery-
writing skills to construct
Long Way
Home
as an unfolding nail-biter, “it was
the hardest writing I’ve ever done,”
Caldwell says. “These were real people
with complicated personal stories, not
characters I made up. I felt a serious
responsibility to get it right.”
■
Loyola lawyers turn their talents to writing
ALUMNI AUTHORS
LEGAL BRIEFS
NEWGRADS
Commencement
recap
G
ino L. DiVito (BA ’59, JD ’63)
served as speaker and was
presented with an honorary
degree at the School of Law’s
May 18 commencement at Loyola’s
Lake Shore Campus. DiVito is
widely regarded as one of Illinois’
most respected and influential
voices in the law. In 2001, after a
long and distinguished career as a
prosecutor, trial judge, and justice
of the Illinois appellate court, he
cofounded the Chicago law firm
Tabet DiVito & Rothstein LLC, where
he currently serves.
In May, the law school conferred
287 JD degrees, one SJD degree, 92
LLM degrees, and 109 MJ degrees.
■
K
ey players in the $1.5 billion National Mortgage Settlement Conference gathered at Loyola in February
for a conference to discuss the housing market collapse, the path to the settlement, and the independent
monitor established to oversee the terms of the agreement. Pictured are the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development’s Damon Smith (left), Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (JD ’94), and former U.S. Associate
Attorney General Tom Perrelli.
Deconstructing the mortgage settlement
Fern Trevino (BA ’69, MSW ’78,
JD ’83, left), Patricia Giannis McKay
(JD ’84, MA ’86), Associate Dean
James J. Faught, and Professor
James P. Carey enjoy a day on the
court at Loyola’s Alumni Golf and
Tennis Outing in August 1985.
Trevino started her own law firm in
1992, specializing in employment
law and representing executives
and employees in claims involving
discrimination, sexual harassment,
retaliation, retaliatory discharge,
and the Family and Medical Leave
Act. McKay lives in Illinois and has
practiced law at the Chicago firm
Lord, Bissell, and Brook. Faught
continues his work at the School
of Law as associate dean of
administration. Carey retired last
May after a 32-year run at Loyola.
A SAMPLING OF OTHER RECENT
BOOKS BY LOYOLA LAW GRADS:
Joanne Gazarek Bloom (JD ’76),
Bridgeport
(Arcadia Publishing, 2012)
Hege Elisabeth Kjos (JD ’00),
Applicable Law in Investor-State
Arbitration
(Oxford University
Press, 2013)
Virginia Kendall (JD ’92) and T.
Markus Funk,
Child Exploitation
and Trafficking: Examining the Global
Challenges and U.S. Responses
(Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011)
Desiree Furman Moore (JD ’05),
Thrive: A New Lawyer’s Guide to Law
Firm Practice
(American Bar
Association, 2012)
Theda Snyder (JD ’77),
Women
Rainmakers’ Best Marketing Tips
(American Bar Association, 3d
ed., 2011)
Where are
they now?
SPRING 2013
5
4
LOYOLA LAW
