Please enjoy a recording of The Podvocate's first-ever live event held on April 22, 2025, titled "Resistance: A Panel on Practice-Based Activism." The panel was moderated by editors-in-chief Casey Callahan and Ben Recht and featured guests Rachel Cohen, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal Ken Upton.

This podcast episode explores the question “Is law school worth it?” from a personal perspective as a part-time student balancing work, tuition costs, and home responsibilities. The host shares their experience funding school through their salary and scholarships, while acknowledging the emotional and practical impact on their spouse, who has taken on more household duties. They weigh the financial burden, the time investment, and the sacrifices against the long-term career benefits and personal fulfillment that law school can offer. Ultimately, the episode highlights how the value of law school is deeply personal, and encourages listeners to reflect on their own goals, support systems, and definitions of success.

Sovereign Citizens are a group without a central authoritative ideology; but a throughline that holds that US law does not apply to them. The most common idea ius that the passage of the 14th Amendment after the Civil War created a second class of citizen, and that only by reading up on your rights as a “living person” can one avail themselves of the blessings of “Common Law”. In this episode, I examined some of the consequences of this utterly fake ideology, and what happens when it is argued before a judge. Though I do find their ideas absurd, I try throughout the episode to keep the humanity of pseudolaw’s practitioners in mind.

Recourses:

Overview on Sovereign Citizen Ideology:

https://www.sog.unc.edu/sites/www.sog.unc.edu/files/Sov%20citizens%20quick%20guide%20Nov%2013.pdf

Video of Michigan Sovereign Citizen/ Ernie Tertellgate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZxMzcFJ-Lc&t=1039s

Please enjoy this episode from the archive with former Editor-in-Chief, Marisa Polowitz. This episode features a portion of the 2022 Symposium presented by Loyola's Journal of Regulatory Compliance, "Demystifying Data Privacy," specifically the panel conversation, "Paving the Way for Privacy."

Please enjoy this episode from the archive with former Editor-in-Chief, Marisa Polowitz. This episode features a portion of the 2022 Symposium presented by Loyola's Journal of Regulatory Compliance, "Demystifying Data Privacy."

Please enjoy this episode from the archive with former Editor-in-Chief, Marisa Polowitz. This episode features a portion of the 2022 Symposium presented by Loyola's Journal of Regulatory Compliance, specifically the panel entitled "Developments in Healthcare Data Regulation," moderated by Marisa Polowitz.

This episode confronts the “Trifecta of Violence” as it relates to escalating violence against transgender people, particularly Black transwomen, and the systemic forces enabling it. From Orwellian laws targeting trans existence to unchecked citizen brutality, the legal system and societal apathy lead to state-sanctioned and judicially-approved violence against Black trans bodies. The violent policy enacted against trans people does not, and will not end with transpeople—exemplified by the story of Kalaya Morton, a butch (Black masculine lesbian) from Arizona, who was assaulted in a public restroom by male law enforcement under the false accusation of being trans, anti-trans policy is meant to police identity deemed ‘deviant’ by white cisgendered heteropatriarchy.

Angela Irvine, You Can’t Run from the Police: Developing a Feminist Criminology that Incorporates Black Transgender Women, 44 SW. L. REV. 553 (2015).

C. Riley Snorton, Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, Uni. Minn. Press (2017)

Jennifer L. Eberhardt, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do, Vikings 140 (2019).

Elias Cosenza Krell, Is Transmisogyny Killing Trans Women of Color?, 4 TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Duke. Uni. Press. 226 (2017).

Emily Lenning, et. al., The Trifecta of Violence: A Socio-Historical Comparison of Lynching and Violence Against Transgender Women, 29 Critical Criminology 151 (Dec. 2020).

https://www.advocate.com/news/lesbian-mistaken-transgender-arizona-walmart

https://transgenderlawcenter.org/resources/transgender-people-and-law-enforcement-interactions-rights-and-realities/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/

https://www.edweek.org/leadership/pronouns-for-trans-nonbinary-students-the-states-with-laws-that-restrict-them-in-schools/2023/06

https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/hrcs-2024-epidemic-of-violence-report-fatal-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people-continues-with-black-trans-women-comprising-nearly-half-of-the-deaths

https://www.them.us/story/trans-day-of-remembrance-recorded-deaths-black-trans-women

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/education/2025/03/28/ohio-bill-requires-parental-permission-student-name-pronoun-change-house-bill-190/82702958007/

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2025/03/28/schools-must-share-child-gender-identity-info-with-parents-trump-education-department-says/

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/keeping-men-out-of-womens-sports/

https://www.advocate.com/news/lesbian-mistaken-transgender-arizona-walmart

In this episode, we talk with a former lawyer, Greyson “Grey” Fitzgerald, who made the leap from Big Law to tattooing. They share what pushed them to leave the legal world, the challenges of starting fresh in a creative industry, and how their background in law still plays a role in their new career. Whether you're interested in career transitions or just curious about the path from courtrooms to tattoo studios, this conversation offers a look into making big changes.

Andrea Lyon is a criminal defense lawyer, author, speaker, professor and former law school dean. Dubbed “The Angel of Death Row” by the Chicago Tribune, she was the first woman to serve as lead attorney in a death penalty case, and she holds an unparalleled 19 wins in 19 capital cases. Andrea’s publications include over fifty law review articles, over ten practice manuals and books focused on her career and social justice in America.

Katie sat down with Andrea to talk about her remarkable career, the challenges she faced in her early work, some advice for managing high-profile cases, and her enduring belief in the power of redemption.

Resources:

Andrea Lyon profile at Lyon & Kerr: https://www.lyonkerr.com/andrea-lyon/

Select publications by Andrea Lyon:

Angel of Death Row: My Life as a Death Penalty Defense Lawyer: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6933361-angel-of-death-row

Fixing Legal Injustice in America: The Case for a Defender General of the United States: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538164662/Fixing-Legal-Injustice-in-America-The-Case-for-a-Defender-General-of-the-United-States

Additional Resources:

John Conroy’s “House of Screams”, the 1990 Chicago Reader coverage of Jon Burge and the Area 2 police: https://chicagoreader.com/news/house-of-screams/

This episode of the Podvocate will explore the often overlooked and underdiscussed pressures of law school, focusing on what shapes students’ mental health and well-being. From the pervasive culture of perfectionism and the relentless grind mentality to the emotional toll of legal education, we dive into how law students can be impacted by unspoken expectations. This episode also discusses the stigma surrounding mental health in law school and how some schools are already taking steps to help their students.

Resources

ABA Launches Pledge Campaign to Improve Mental Health and Well-Being of Lawyers, American Bar Association, September 10, 2018. https://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2018/09/aba-launches-pledge-campaign-to-improve-mental-health-and-well-b/

Raashi Sharma, Well-Being Series: Law Student Mental Health: An Open Dialogue, February 9, 2023, https://bostonbar.org/journal/law-student-mental-health-an-open-dialogue/

Priscilla Henson, Addiction and Substance Abuse in Lawyers: Statistics, June 21, 2024, https://americanaddictioncenters.org/workforce-addiction/white-collar/lawyers

David Jaffe, Law Schools Should Take on Students’ Mental Health and Substance Use From Day One, American Bar Association, May 17, 2023, https://www.abajournal.com/voice/article/the-legal-profession-has-a-drinking-problem

Jerome M. Organ et. al, Suffering in Silence: The Survey of Law Student Well-Being and the Reluctance of Law Students to Seek Help for Substance Use and Mental Health Concerns, 66 Journal of Legal Education 1 (2016)

Katherine M. Younge, Understanding the Social and Cognitive Process in Law School that Creates Unhealthy Lawyers, 89 Fordham L. Rev. 11 (2021)