Coached by a core group of Hofstra Law students, the Hempstead High School Mock Trial Team won their first round in the New York State Mock Trial Tournament on Tuesday, February 9th.

Round two of the competition is scheduled for Wednesday, February 24th. In the meantime, Hofstra Law students will continue to conduct practices and help the team hone their trial procedures, analytical thinking, and public speaking skills. This year the legal focus of the competition is both complicated and timely: A criminal case involving two business associates accused of securities fraud.

Over the past two years, the mock trial program has fostered personal bonds between the high school students and their mentors. Hofstra Law students enjoy coaching and mentoring team members, which in turn piques their interest in careers in the law.

The team is the brain child of three Hofstra Law graduates: Franca Sachs, Executive Director of the Family Law Programs at Hofstra Law, Hempstead High School teacher and team coach Hillary Light, and an alumni donor. Professors Andrew Schepard and Theo Liebmann have dedicated many hours to directly working with the team and also with the law students to develop a coaching plan.

Professor Andrew Schepard and Professor Theo Liebmann published the following New York Law Journal article.

Law and Children
Friday, November 13, 2009
By Andrew Schepard and Theo Liebmann

EXCERPT:

Andrew Schepard, a professor of law and director of the Center for Children, Families and the Law at Hofstra University, and Theo Liebmann, a clinical professor of law and director of Clinical Programs at Hofstra, write that although increasing the number of Family Court judges by 21, as called for in a recent state Senate report and for which the Senate has already passed implementing legislation, will help substantially, the only long-term solution to the caseload crisis in the Family Court is to amend the State Constitution to eliminate its inferior status and all constitutional barriers to assigning trial court judges to it if needed.

On Friday, October 23, 2009, Professor Theo Liebmann participated at the invitation-only National Summit on Creating a National Right to Counsel for Children. The Summit brought together lawyers, academics, judges and social scientists from around the country to develop strategies to promote the right to counsel for children and youth in abuse and neglect cases.

On Saturday, October 17, 2009, law students and social work students engaged in a cross-disciplinary trial skills program led by faculty from Hofstra Law School and Hunter College School of Social Work, at Hunter’s School of Social Work. Hofstra Law students played the role of attorneys in a child dependency case, and Hunter students acted as expert social worker witnesses, in a full-day trial preparation workshop. The project, part of the Family Law with Skills Course taught by Professors Andrew Schepard and J. Herbie DiFonzo, is designed to teach the skills of case theory development, witness preparation and witness examination that lawyers and social workers must use in real cases. Theo Liebmann, Professor of Clinical Law and Attorney-In-Charge at the Hofstra Child Advocacy Clinic, led the workshop, which he had designed with experts from New York and around the country. Professors Schepard and DiFonzo participated, along with volunteer experts in law and social work.

Theo Liebmann, Clinical Professor, Attorney-In-Charge of the Hofstra Child Advocacy Clinic and Director of the Clinical Programs, and Serge Martinez, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, recently argued before the Appellate Division's Second Department in separate cases.

Professor Liebmann argued on behalf of a young child recently adopted by a same-sex couple. The putative paternal grandparents were seeking a court order granting visitation with the child even though their son had not established his paternity of the child. Professor Liebmann successfully argued that any decision about his client's interactions with legal strangers should be made by his adoptive parents, not by a court. Click here for the decision.

Professor Martinez represented Suffolk County Legislator Ricardo Montano, arguing that the trial court correctly determined that the Suffolk County Legislature had improperly enacted legislation targeting immigrant workers in Suffolk County. The County Legislature has argued that its procedural rules are beyond the reach of the judiciary under the separation of powers doctrine. Professor Martinez argued that the County Legislature had violated State law when it passed the legislation, and therefore the Court was permitted to intervene. No determination has been made in this matter to date.