Law Intern students benefit from professional furniture
Legal Eagles take on court mock trials
November 13, 2015
Life or death decisions are at the heart of a case that students in the ABL2E Law Intern program are trying in their very own courtroom.
The case revolves around a man who is being tried for second de- gree manslaughter for not letting his daughter get the medicine she needed to survive because he believes it is against his religion.
The case may only be a mock trial, but the experience is invaluable for the law intern students, who are conducting their mock trial in a classroom outfitted with $19,000 worth of real courtroom furniture, said law teacher Robyn Katz.
“This will really help students gain the experience that they will need and it will help them become more responsible,” Katz said.
Soon the trials held in the courtroom will involve real cases based on incidents of student misbehavior and violations of campus rules. The courtroom and the law students will add another component to the restorative justice programs that are being implemented at Akins this year.
The law intern students will either prosecute or defend an Akins student when they have violated one of the school rules.
“I run the court system because I’m in charge of the of law interns; however, I’m not the one who decides if the students are responsible or not for their actions,” Katz said
A jury of Akins students will be responsible for deciding if the student accused of breaking the rules is innocent or guilty by giving the student in question a fair trial.
Katz said she is excited to get it started and thinks it’s going to be beneficial for Akins students.
“Instead of writing referrals we can have a system to tell us if stu- dents should be held responsible,” Katz said.
The ABL2E court system is located in Room 252 and will start to take student cases in the spring of 2015. Katz’s students have spent the fall learning courtroom procedures and rehearsing the various roles needed to run a court, including defense attorneys, witnesses and prosecutors.
“We haven’t started yet but I really like the idea of students holding other students accountable for their actions,” Katz said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing my future law interns practice their skills.”
Senior Maritza Ramirez is one of the law interns that work with Katz and finds the law program fun and interesting.
“We get to go to the courthouse, shadow lawyers and talk to judges,” Ramirez said. “We
have been given this opportunity and it’s allowing us to get our foot in the door.”
Katz earned her law degree from Texas Tech School of Law, where she practiced prosecutor and family law.
“We are lucky to have Dr. Katz as our instructor. She worked in the law field and knows what we should expect and she has great connections,” Ramirez said. “We are preparing for mock trial and will be competing in November.”
Senior Omar Trejo, who is the defense attorney for the mock tri- al, said he is learning a lot from the experience and that it will help him on his path of law.
“I like it but it really depends how involved you are,” Trejo said. “It’s very time consuming but at the end it’s all worth it.”
The Austin Bar Association and Austin young Lawyers Association have launched a unique partnership with the law program at Akins.
The new program called “Legal Eagles” will consist of 10 students, who have already have been selected through a series of interviews and applications.
Senior Esmeralda Orozco finds that working with lawyers is really helpful. “It’s definitely opening up a lot of doors,” Orozco said. “It’s challenging but it’s not difficult and even though it’s challenging it’s nothing we can’t handle.”
Interns definitely need to have a passion for it, and if they don’t, students won’t like it, Orozco said.
“The mock trial is definitely interesting. We’re recreating a case and that’s a lot of fun,” Orozco said. “I’m learning a lot of hands on experience and it’s better than looking at a textbook the entire time.”
The Texas Hays County Mock Trial competition will take place on Nov. 21st at Austin High.
