Faced with fierce competition, law schools are investing heavily in recruiting top-notch students.
Now, administrators at Roger Williams University School of Law believe they’ll set themselves apart from the competition with the Mandell Trial Advocacy Center, the plans for which were unveiled in April.
Thanks to a $4 million gift from noted trial attorney Mark Mandell, the center will train law school students and practicing attorneys who want to sharpen trial skills such as delivering opening and closing arguments, questioning witnesses and developing case strategy.
Administrators say the center will combine coursework with controlled courtroom simulations and competition participation, along with involving legal professionals in the program, too.
Gregory Bowman, dean and professor at Rhode Island’s only law school, said the advocacy center will give RWU a competitive edge in attracting prospective students, even as the law school’s applications jumped 40% this year.
“It is a transformational gift that is going to go to one of the core programs that any law school should have, which is litigation and trial advocacy,” Bowman said. “We are committed to this as one of our top priorities over the next several years.”
Attorney George L. Santopietro, who serves on the law school’s board of directors, said the benefits of the planned trial advocacy center are “immeasurable.”
“While most law schools offer a single course in trial practice, very few include an institute integrating coursework, simulations, competition and practitioner engagement,” said Santopietro, a partner at Coia & Lepore Ltd. who concentrates on personal injury and civil litigation.
These days, Santopietro said, there are also fewer opportunities than once existed for in-depth mentorships, in part because of large workloads, changes in law firm structure and with fewer cases being settled before trial.
Santopietro said that a student who completes a program at the advocacy center – complete with simulated trials – will be more appealing to potential employers.
“Because of that, ambitious and exemplary students will be attracted to such a program,” Santopietro said. “That, in turn, will have a positive impact on how Roger Williams University School of Law is perceived by law school applicants, employers and the legal community at large.”
Santopietro said that only a few dozen law schools nationwide offer such a program.
“And fewer still have centers that incorporate academic coursework in, for example, the law of evidence. For students desiring to become trial lawyers, this center should provide a significant competitive advantage, especially in this rapidly evolving legal landscape,” Santopietro said.
Santopietro said the center will offer other critical resources that he says most other law schools fail to provide.
“Equally as important, the value of this center will be amplified by the fact that [RWU] is the only law school in Rhode Island, and the center will serve practicing attorneys as well as students,” Santopietro said.
At the core of the advocacy center will be Mandell’s “case framing” model for organizing and presenting a case to a jury. Mandell will act as the center’s founding adviser.
“Case framing is a model that encompasses decades of my personal trial and error as to how to put together a case proof in a way that works,” said Mandell, a partner at Mandell Boisclair & Mandell Ltd., with his wife, Yvette Boisclair, and son Zachary.
“During my 50-plus-year career as a trial lawyer, I have searched for a model that defines how to prepare and try a case,” he said. “I have tried to understand how all the different parts of a case can be united so that a jury can see past the inevitable distractions and focus instead on what the case is really about.”
Mandell, who has served as a Roger Williams University trustee, law school director and adjunct faculty member, said his methods rely, in part, on principles taken from decision science, neuroscience and psychology to focus jurors’ attention on the true meaning of a case.
“To be able to train our students using this really unique and strategic method for thinking about a case, and trying a case, and addressing any legal issue, whether it is litigation or not, that will really help our students,” Bowman said.
“That is going to be something that our students are going to want because it will teach them how to be effective lawyers,” he added. “And it will give us the ability and resources to engage in more of the in-house training and instruction that we want to do.”
