Massachusetts School of Law Press Release
CONTACT: Kirby F. Smith at (978) 681-0800, x-25 (voice); (978) 681-6330 (fax); (e-mail); (Website)
MASSACHUSETTS SCHOOL OF LAW STUDENTS TO COMPETE IN THURGOOD MARSHALL MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION
ANDOVER, MA --- Massachusetts School of Law (MSL) students will participate in the Black Law Students Association‘s Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Regional Competition in Albany, New York, from February 23 through February 25. The MSL students will take on teams from Harvard, Yale, Boston University, Cornell, and other Northeast law schools.
The Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition is one of the largest and most prestigious national student-run trial advocacy competitions. It focuses on promoting academic and trial excellence for its participants. The theme for the 2005-2006 competition is "Marshalling in a Spirit of Competition: Evidence, Procedure and Zealous Advocacy."
This is the first time MSL has sent a team to the regional competition. Team members include Daniel Crawling Bear Harayda (Bridgeport, CT), Nastajha N. Douglas (Enfield, CT), Dean Douglas (Lowell, MA), Dane Dowell (Dracut, MA), and Lucas Watson (Hartford, CT).
The team is coached by MSL Associate Dean Michael Coyne and Joseph Filippetti, an attorney.
“I am most impressed by the work ethic of the members of this team,” said Coyne. “One student is a member of the Connecticut National Guard; two others work full-time; and all of them are studying the law at our school, while preparing for this competition. It is impressive to see such a commitment to excellence.”
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MSL Mock Trial Team/ add one
In a mock trial competition team members must be able to argue both sides of a case -- as the plaintiff’s attorney and as the defense counsel. The Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial this year features a civil case involving racial discrimination and false imprisonment.
“Preparing for this competition has required more work than we all thought,” said Watson, a 3rd-year student. “But it really feels as if our education here at the school has been meaningful as we look forward to using it to try and correct social injustice and, with any luck,to win the competition, although not necessarily in that order.”
The Massachusetts School of Law (MSL) is located in Andover, Massachusetts. Its mission is to make practical, affordable, high quality legal education, and resulting social and economic mobility, available to capable but less privileged persons who have been traditionally excluded from the legal profession.
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February 22, 2006