The Podvocate

In this episode, I explore the investigation into the murder of Jean McConville, and the broader context of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I begin with an exploration of origins of the Troubles, the gruesome conflict that tore Northern Ireland apart and pitted neighbor against neighbor, that ultimately led to the death of thousands. I then move on to discuss Gerry Adams and Dolores Price, two high-level IRA operatives who would be implicated in the murder of Ms. McConville some 30 years after her disappearance in 1972.

I then discuss the Belfast Project, a clandestine oral history project at Boston College. Conducted by Bob O’Neil and Ed Maloney, the Belfast Project sought to create an oral history of the Troubles from the perspective of those who fought in it. O’Neil and Maloney promised the interviewees that the content of their interviews would be sealed until their death and thought that the fact that the tapes of the interviews were to be housed in the United States would shield these interviews from the authorities in the United Kingdom. But they never thought to check the relevant caselaw, or the status of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties between the US and the UK.

What resulted was a legal battle over the tapes that would show in no uncertain terms that the duty of law enforcement, even foreign law enforcement, trumps academics ability to give assurances of anonymity to their sources.

This episode was inspired by “Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland” by Patrick Radden Keefe, and I relied on the book heavily when creating this podcast. If you are interested in this subject matter, I highly recommend the book. It is a very well-written and gripping read.

 Errata:

In the episode, I sometimes refer to Jean McConville as “Jane McConville”.

In my first episode on the Podvocate, we took an antitrust law, an ever-growing area of the law whose primary purpose is to regulate corporate M&A activity through the use of the Clayton Act and FTC Act to protect macro-level impacts on individual consumers and consumer markets. One area of the law with a similar goal is consumer protection law; however, instead of taking a look at fraud, deception, misrepresentation, or credit disclosure laws, we are examining one of the most polarizing and emerging areas of consumer protection law in the modern era: data privacy law. This episode provides practical examples of how we interact with privacy laws day-to-day, a definition for what data privacy seeks to accomplish, information on the most seminal federal and state data privacy laws affecting data controllers, and some examples of what data privacy attorney do and what law students can do to learn more about data privacy law. Let’s explore privacy law and discover together why it is the area of the law most discussed within emerging technology.

Specific laws discussed include federal laws like HIPAA, the GLBA, CAN-SPAM, and COPPA. State laws discussed include five of the original comprehensive state data privacy laws that have made the regulation of data privacy law immensely more complicated. Information on what data privacy attorneys do have been provided by data privacy attorneys from around the country, and information regarding what law students cand to learn more stems from my personal experience navigating this emerging area of the law and other Chicago-based law students also seeking to learn more about how to grow their reputation in the privacy law landscape.

Associate Editor Mary Bandstra sits down with two members of the Saint Leonard’s Ministries leadership, Executive Director Zack Schrantz and Intake & Housing Manager David Harris, to discuss the work they do with people who have been impacted by incarceration. Zack, David, and Mary discuss collateral consequences of criminal convictions, strategies to reduce recidivism, and the healing power of community.

Saint Leonard’s Ministries is a social service agency in Chicago that has been providing holistic services to people who have been impacted by incarceration for seventy years. Recently, Loyola University Chicago School of law has partnered with Saint Leonard’s to provide a legal referral service to the Saint Leonard’s community.

Research & Sources:

To learn more about collateral consequences of criminal convictions, see The National Inventory of Collateral Consequences of Conviction: https://niccc.nationalreentryresourcecenter.org/

For a Podvocate primer on collateral consequences, listen to Casey Callahan’s Collateral Consequences episode: https://soundcloud.com/thepodvocate/collateral-consequences

To learn more about the City of Chicago’s initiatives to address challenges of re-entry, see the City of Chicago Office of the Mayor Re-entry resources: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/reentry/home.html

Resources:

To learn more about St. Leonard’s Ministries: visit https://slministries.org/about/about-saint-leonards/

In this archive episode recorded last year, former editors Maris and Karan chat with Susi Guerrero and Arjan Grover, two outgoing members of the Loyola Moot Court Program’s Executive Board. They discuss what Moot Court is like at Loyola, the special community it has cultivated for its members, and the value of appellate advocacy skills in law school and beyond.

Congratulations! You have done all the work to get great grades and networked successfully, and now, you have accepted an offer to be a Summer Associate. I remember the feeling myself, and after the excitement wore off, I was only left with overwhelming questions. What can I do to be the best summer associate possible and receive an offer to come back to the firm? What strategies should I follow, and what are some things I should avoid? Especially as a first-generation law student, these questions remained unanswered. Now, having completed Summer Associate positions at two AM Law 100 firms, this episode seeks to answer these questions, as Johannes Alvarez-Rivero runs through the best tips and tricks for summer associates to leave a great impression on the firm they work at and easy to miss mistakes that should be avoided. The discussion is a aggregation of advice provided by a number of students inside and outside of Chicago law schools, all who have completed Summer Associate positions at a vast variety of law firms.

In the follow up to Guilding pt. 1, Ben sits down with People’s Law Office Attorney Brad Thompson, to further discuss the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) and it’s work in Chicago. In doing so, we discussed the history of the guild, some of the key movements it has helped support, as well as some of the influential projects and programs it takes part in now. Specifically, we explored the work of the Chicago Chapter’s Mass Defense Committee as well as the NLG’s Legal Observer Program.

In an episode recorded last semester (Spring of 2024), Ben sits down with fellow Podvocate Co-Editor in Chief, Casey Callahan, to talk about the history of the National Lawyers Guild both nationally and internationally over the course of the 20th and early 21st century. In doing so, they discuss what brought them both to the guild while students at Loyola as well as key historical events that led to the Guild’s founding in the late 1930s. They further explore key social movements that the Guild was a part of throughout the decades with the help of future guest, People’s Law Office attorney Brad Thompson.

Casey sat down in May to talk with the Executive Director of Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Aisha Cornelius Edwards, and the Director of Legal Programs at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Breanna Kantor about how criminal and civil law are siloed. They discuss the importance of both criminal and civil attorneys being versed in the criminal and civil consequences of what legal actions they take on behalf of their clients.

The incoming editorial board members for The Podvocate introduce themselves. We are looking forward to a great year!

Podvocate Associate Editor, Johannes Alvarez-Rivero, sits down to give the listeners a primer on the field of antitrust within the United States of America. First, Johannes discusses what antitrust laws are and what they are meant to protect. Johannes briefly discusses the governmental regulatory bodies that enforce antitrust laws, then turns to discussing the history of antitrust laws in the nation, taking time to discuss some of the most seminal case rulings in this field's history. Finally, Johannes touches on the state of antitrust law today and some of the hot topic areas of interest being discussed by legal scholars pertaining to antitrust laws.