Academic Enhancement Program hosts Mock Trial for middle school students

The law school hosted nearly 90 middle school/high school students at its 8th annual Lewis & Clark Diversity Pipeline Mock Trial on March 9th.  The program is developed and hosted by the law school’s Academic Enhancement Program with additional support from a grant from the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC).  The program engages law students, law alumni, college students, and middle school students in a one-day mock trial exercise.

“We divided into 10 teams and ran 5 simultaneous mock trials on the timely topic of bullying.  We situated our case in the magical world of Harry Potter!” said JB Kim, Assistant Dean for Diversity & Academic Resources. “We are grateful to have had a great community showing–we had 40 attorney and law student volunteers, and 7 volunteers from the College of Arts & Sciences.”

“We are really proud of this annual event,” said Assistant Director Heather McCambly. Our volunteers tell us that it gets better every year. It was fun, a little loud, and really rewarding for everyone involved.”

One participating 9th grader summed up the student response to the mock trial: “I really liked this trip.  It inspired me to do good in school and push myself to come to a college like this. The students from this school are very helpful!” 

Participating students come to Lewis & Clark through partners at local TRiO programs, which are federally funded to encourage youth from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds to go to college. Along with the mock trial experiences, the middle school students also tour the campus of the college of arts and sciences, and participate in a Q&A discussion panel with law students and attorneys at the end of the day. The panel was hosted by Rasheid Light, College of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean of Admissions. 

Each participant was also sent home with a bag of “swag” donated by local partners including Bonneville Power Administration, Bullivant House Bailer, Davis Wright Tremaine, NELA Cener for Student Success, Perkins Coie, Oregon State Bar, Schwabe, Williamson, & Wyatt, and Westlaw.