Lawyers Make Music with the LLS Orchestra

Every Saturday morning at 10 a.m., legal professionals and law students trickle onto the LMU Loyola Law School campus and head to Burns Lounge. After a quick breakfast and coffee, they settle into their seats and get to work. Professor Simona Grossi raises her arms and counts them in, and the delicate strings and woodwinds of Sibelius' Symphony No. 2 fill the room.

This is the Loyola Law School Orchestra, one of the most unique musical groups in Los Angeles. Its 100-strong members, aged 14 to 75, are made up of Loyola Law School students, alumni, and staff, professional musicians, music students, and law students from other universities. Since its founding in 2020, the LLS orchestra has played at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School of Music, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and, on April 27, the Million Dollar Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Though its members may be busy with caseloads and law school papers by day, the orchestra is a way for them to build community, reconnect with their shared love of music, and even bring a new perspective to their practice of law.

Grossi, who teaches federal courts and civil procedure, is the orchestra's founder, music director, and conductor. An accomplished pianist, she found herself longing for the powerful connection of music during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd.

"I felt so powerless, and I thought that law could only do so much," Grossi said. "I wanted to bring the community together with a message of peace and message of hope and lead by example."

Her initial recruitment efforts yielded 13 participants, and their first meeting was on Zoom. Grossi continued to grow the orchestra to more than 60 members. They performed their first concert, a program of dance music by composers including Nino Rota, Maurice Ravel, Bela Bartok, and Justin Hurwitz, in October 2022 on the Loyola Law School Esplanade. More than 600 people attended.

At one point during the concert, the timpani drum set off all the car alarms in the adjacent parking garage, causing them to blare in sync with the music, Grossi remembered with a laugh.

Since then, the orchestra has performed pieces by George Gershwin, Rachmaninoff, and even an original composition by one of their members, trumpet player James Alvarez. Their April 27 concert will feature Sibelius, Adams, and McAllister.

Musicians usually audition to join the group, but Grossi takes into account their level of commitment and enthusiasm alongside their musical ability. Rehearsals are on Saturday or Sunday for three hours, though members are free to take a leave of absence if their schedule gets too busy.

Civil litigation attorney and French horn player Dan Persoff '82 said that without Grossi's understanding and accommodation of the work commitments lawyers face, he - and many of his colleagues - would never be able to be part of an orchestra. "This orchestra opens the door for practicing lawyers to have an orchestra experience that otherwise they could not hope for," he said.

When she went to her first orchestra rehearsal in June 2022, Isabella Villalta '25 hadn't played her saxophone with a group since high school. She was anxious and had been struggling through her first week of classes. But being greeted warmly by the other players and playing her first tuning note with the whole orchestra became a memory she still holds close.

"After that, I knew I always had a home to go to," Villalta said. "The LLS Orchestra is a beautiful family which harbors the power of music and brings a new form of community to Loyola Law School."

Grossi recruited Libby Morehouse '24 from one of her classes after Morehouse told her she played the flute. As section leader, Morehouse said the orchestra has strengthened her management and leadership skills. It has also enriched her law school studies by forcing her to take a break from studying and activate a different part of her brain.

"Through my time at Loyola, the orchestra has been a consistent source of joy, passion, and inspiration," Morehouse said. "Wanting to dive into the entertainment industry when I graduate, the orchestra has provided me an interesting angle to approach conversations with attorneys in the industry, and relate more intimately with the work they do, the work I want to do."

Grossi agreed that playing in the orchestra can have a real impact on lawyers' well-being and their practice of law. She has seen and experienced firsthand how expressing oneself through music can inspire a healthier, more connected, and more moralistic approach to the law.

"We don't fully understand the community by isolating ourselves from the community. So I consider this a mission to allow our members to be more connected to the community around them," she said.

Grossi has aspirations of developing a collaboration with a local elementary school to provide music exposure to kids, and hopes to continue expanding the orchestra (any string players out there are encouraged to audition!) and performing around the city. But for the musicians themselves, playing music with their peers in Burns Lounge is more than enough.

"I am conscious of a debt that I owe to the law school, not just for my great legal education which has stood me in great stead for 40 years of practice, and the friendships with members of the class of '82 which are ongoing, but also because of this orchestra experience, which has enriched my life and made for many happy returns to the law school campus for orchestra rehearsals," Persoff said.

Buy tickets here for the LLS Orchestra's next concert on April 27 at the Million Dollar Theater.

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