Forty Years of Trial Advocacy: Fall 2023 Edition of Chicago-Kent Magazine Released

Since its founding more than 40 years ago, the Chicago-Kent College of Law Trial Advocacy Program has been the one to beat in competitions across the country and is consistently ranked as one of the best in the country—this year, it is ranked #9 in the country by U.S. News & World Report.

But success doesn’t stop in the classroom. Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy alumni go out into the world to argue cases big and small in the public and private spheres. They win cases because the Trial Advocacy Program at Chicago-Kent taught them how.

In honor of the program, the fall 2023 edition of Chicago-Kent Magazine highlights four of the remarkable trial advocacy alumni who fight for justice every day.

Judge John Lyke Jr. ’94 runs his own courtroom in the Cook County Criminal Division. The skills he learned and the people he met at Chicago-Kent launched him into the realm of criminal law—first as a prosecutor, then as a defense attorney running his own firm, and now, as a judge.

Sulema Medrano ’09 is equity partner at Dentons—the largest law firm in the world. She worked her way up from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she handled domestic violence appeals. After making her way to the top, she’s building roads for other Latina women to do it, too.

Bryce Hensley ’17 jumped in the deep end, handling some of the biggest cases in the country almost as soon as he passed the bar exam. He’s secured settlements for victims of the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting and the Willowbrook, Illinois, ethylene oxide emissions scandal.

H. Patrick Morris ’83 was a member of Chicago-Kent’s very first trial advocacy team. He’s gone on to litigate major cases for big name clients for the last 40 years in First Amendment and mass tort cases. In addition, his work in service of diversity has helped major law firms across the country change the demographics of their firms to be more inclusive.

You can read the fall 2023 edition online.

Chicago-Kent Magazine is the premier news source for Chicago-Kent’s network of approximately 13,000 alumni. The publication is distributed digitally twice a year.