Florida International University College of Law

We are looking for attorneys to help us judge our students’ mandatory appellate arguments between April 13 and April 23.  In addition to the times listed on the attached form, we also have a few slots available at 7:00 p.m. on weeknights, and can also accommodate almost any other time that you might be available. 

 If you are interested in judging, please send me an email (marciros@fiu.edu) to let me know your availability as soon as possible.  Thank you for your help.  If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask me.

Marci Rosenthal

Co-Director, Legal Skills and Values Program

Florida International University College of Law

(305) 348-8350

marciros@fiu.edu

It’s that time of year again – students in our Legal Skills & Values program will be completing their mandatory appellate arguments between April 13 and April 23.  During this period of time, we will have over 240 students presenting appellate arguments as part of their required Legal Skills and Values course; we need judges for all of them! 

Because of a curricular change this year, both 1L and 2L students will be presenting arguments.  The 1L appellate problem is a First Amendment issue involving student free speech rights on the Internet (specifically, the extent to which schools have the authority to discipline students for Internet speech).  The 2L problem involves employment law issues under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the Florida Civil Rights Act  (FCRA).  To make both problems even more enticing for you, we have secured CLE credit through the Florida Bar for any attorney who participates as a judge.

The arguments will be forty minutes each (with two teams of two students each arguing during that time), and will take place at the College of Law on FIU’s south campus.  In order to allow a few minutes for feedback and to be sure that the arguments run on time, we have scheduled one hour for each argument.

If you are interested in helping (and in obtaining CLE credit for doing so!), please sign up on the attached form and return it by March 23 to me at marciros@fiu.edu.  We have scheduled time slots based on times that attorneys generally have been available in the past; if you are available between April 13 and April 23 at a time not listed on the schedule, please let me know – we will be happy to schedule rounds outside of the designated slots.  We will provide bench briefs and parking information after we have confirmed the schedule. 

Finally, please forward this message to any of your colleagues who may be interested.  Thank you in advance for your help.  If you have any questions or need additional information, please don’t hesitate to ask me.