by Scott Harvey
Assistant Sports Editor
The University of La Verne College of Law is diligently preparing for its annual mock trials, which will take place on the main campus from May 5-9 in the Law Center and will, for the first time, include a student represented jury.
Designed as an internship for final year law students, the mock trials will institute a lawyering skills practicum in which students will become familiar with the process of going to trial and litigating cases. The College of Law, started by Judge Paul Egly in 1970, has used this process only recently to prepare law students for trial situations by introducing the fundamentals of the court process.
“In the past students have graduated from the College of Law with no previous experience and their first trial is too overwhelming. The mock trials will help the students ease into the whole process and get a sense of trial law,” said Egly.
The trials will include a personal injury case in which a woman lost four of her fingers in a metal punch press and filed for compensation, and an automobile accident case in which a man was thrown from his sports utility vehicle and left paralyzed after the seat belt clamp had broken during the crash. Both cases are based on actual California court cases.
The make-up of the trials will feature testimony by expert witnesses associated with the cases including two doctors, a highway patrol officer, two economists, industrial engineers and six contributing lawyers. The new implementation that the trials will also highlight is the selection of an all student jury which will deliberate and decide a verdict on both cases.
“I think that the process will be very interesting to student jurors. It is a great opportunity to learn about our judicial system from the view of a jury and hopefully students in other majors will understand how law works,” said Arnold Roseleya, paralegal and clerk for Egly.
The litigators, all third year students at the College of Law, are divided into five mini-law firms and each firm will either argue for the prosecution or the defense. The collaborative process has been in the works since early March and each law assignment is currently a part of the mock trial process.
The firms consist of all 10 College of Law final year students, including Jennifer Mullins, Michelle Voigt, Sharon P. Lee, Ana Maria Garcia, Kerry McBride, former ULV graduate Brian Sweinton, Rajan Maline, Darren Harris, Carl T. Sedlack and Ray Johnson. Each student will each be graded on the basis of their performance in the mock trials and those who pass will receive a law degree.
“Being involved or participating in the case is good experience for anyone who wants to consider law school or becoming familiar with the process,” said Garcia.
According to Egly the process will be good in many ways for both jurors and the law students involved. On one hand he believes that law students will “get a taste of how the real world of law works” on the other hand Egly believes that students involved in the jury process will become better at solving problems through deliberation.
“There is no better experience than practical experience and that is exactly what the students in the College of Law and in the undergraduate program receive,” said Roseleya.
Currently, the College of Law is working to select jurors for the mock trials and will hold an informative selection meeting Thursday, May 1 in Law Center 4 on the University of La Verne campus. For more information contact Colleen Murray in the law offices at (909) 593-3511, ext. 4427.
