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Loyola Academy Bar Association Welcomes Neal K. Katyal '87

6/20/2017

On June 2, alumni members of the LA Bar Association and students from the Howlett Cup Mock Trial team gathered to hear Neal K. Katyal ’87, former solicitor general of the United States, deliver the keynote address at their third annual luncheon. Click here to watch an interview between WGN-TV's Mike Lowe'97 and Katyal.

Matthew R. Devine ’85, chairman of the LA Bar Association and partner at Jenner and Block, gave opening remarks and welcomed Katyal, mentioning Loyola’s impact on both of their lives and career paths. “Neal Katyal exemplifies Loyola’s values and the Ignatian virtues of giving back to the community,” Devine stated. “He is not only well-known for his Supreme Court expertise, but also for his longstanding commitment to providing pro bono legal services to indigent defendants.”

Following Devine’s welcome, Loyola Academy’s mock trial team was recognized with a standing ovation for its first place finish in the 2017 Howlett Cup Competition, held at the Richard M. Daley Center in Chicago in April. The team included Ramblers Owen Baker ’18, Matthew Brun ’18, Connor Hayes ’17, Marirose Osborne ’18, Santiago Roches ’19, Elliott Wenzel ’19 and Thomas Wimbiscus Jr. ’19.

Loyola’s mock trial team is led by head coach Mark A. Javier ’97, supervising investigator at the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). The competition was organized by Conor Heaton ’96, who offered brief remarks. “Neal’s tireless and reverential service to the rule of law has been an inspirational reminder to the team of our shared calling to use our talents, training and influence to be women and men for others,” he said.

As a student at Loyola, Katyal fostered his early interest in law and public speaking by working hard in the classroom and spending hours preparing for debate meets. It was clear the hard work paid off when Katyal and his partner, Vincent M. Gordon ’87, captured awards at local and national tournaments and completed an impressive 12 undefeated rounds at the Harvard Invitational.

Through his Jesuit education, Katyal learned the importance of service and the meaning of Loyola’s motto women and men for others. After Loyola, he attended Dartmouth University and then went on to study at Yale Law School. From there, Katyal’s career soared.

In 2006, Katyal was awarded Lawyer of the Year by Lawyers USA. He was named one of the 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Last Decade Nationwide in 2010 by the National Law Journal. In 2011, he was the recipient of the Edmund Randolph Award, the very highest award given to a civilian by the U.S. Department of Justice. Additionally, Katyal serves as the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he was one of the youngest professors to have received tenure and a chaired professorship in the university’s history. He has also served as a visiting professor at both Harvard and Yale Law Schools.

Today, Katyal is a partner at Hogan Lovell’s, a multinational law firm with headquarters in London and Washington D.C., where he focuses on appellate and complex litigation and has extensive experience in matters of patent, securities, criminal, employment and constitutional law. Most recently, Katyal was the lead attorney in the state of Hawaii’s fight against President Trump’s revised travel ban, in which the state of Hawaii won. At the age of 47, he is tied with Thurgood Marshall for the most Supreme Court cases argued by a minority attorney with a resounding 34 cases. Katyal says he hopes he can break this tie in the years to come.

The Loyola Academy Bar Association was founded in 2013 and has nearly 700 members, representing class years back to the 1940s. Learn more here.

To view the complete event photo gallery, click here.

Listen in as WGN Channel 9 anchor Mike Lowe '97 interviews Neal Katyal here.

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