National Minority Law Student Recruitment Month

On Saturday, Feb. 11th, Lewis & Clark Law School held its third annual mock trial event as part of the National Minority Law Student Recruitment Month, sponsored by The Law School Admissions Council. J.B. Kim (Director, Academic Enhancement Program), Rigo Núñez (Assistant Director of Law School Admissions), several Lewis & Clark law students, and alumni volunteers put the students through a mock (criminal) trial exercise. Students were divided into prosecution and defense teams and later put on their own trial.

The purpose of this event is to encourage local high school students to go to college and in the future, consider a career in law. The mock trial gave everyone involved an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children who come from socio-economic disadvantaged backgrounds and/or are first in their families to go to college. The goal is to reach out to minority students and help overcome the differences that may exist between ethnic minority students and higher education, to provide participants with a practical vision of the law, and to give students more self-confidence about their abilities to succeed in college and in the legal community.

Lewis & Clark partnered with the TRiO organization to make this event happen. TRiO runs Educational Talent Search, a federally funded program aimed at helping disadvantaged students attend college. Participants in this program come from low-income families and are potentially the first in their family to go beyond high school. The amazing 88 students that participated in the event came from the Beaverton, Forest Grove, Hillsboro and Portland school districts.

By all accounts, the mock trial was a success. One student commented, "I loved acting the trial out…we got a little taste of a real trial…the school was great the people were great so it's all cool!" Another said, "It was very exciting! I learned a lot and had fun all at the same time!"

Read the article, "Students land starring roles in own courtroom drama", in the Oregonian.