National Jurist - February 2008 - (Page 39) ate during his time in Southern California were the opportunities to learn from and network with a variety of successful and influential professionals. “The communication aspect of the practice of law is lost in law school,” said Curcio. “I left Pepperdine believing that the practice of law involves far more than the ability to analyze and apply the law in a complex factual scenario. It is about communicating with clients from a broad variety of social, cultural, occupational and religious contexts.” Curcio was stimulated by the fact that the teachers and students in Pepperdine’s summer program hailed from both conservative rural regions and liberal urban areas. Experts at the Straus Institute included not only former law clerks for liberal justices of the United States Supreme Court or Circuit Court of Appeals, but also motorcycle-driving personal injury attorneys, current counsel for major companies such as Boeing Corporation, environmental mediators and professionals from non-legal fields such as religion, psychology, education and personnel management. “The overall experience broadened my perspective on the field of law,” Curcio said. ponents of the case required a great deal of teamwork. “To be in an organization where you could bring people all together from so many different areas of law and pull them all together and direct them all toward this one guy was really cool,” Gagarin said. “I really enjoyed being a part of that and seeing that there are lawyers out there who really care.” The appeal of that collaborative dynamic did not end there though. Gagarin enjoyed the camaraderie that developed between himself and his peers. They bonded over their common experiences and mission, although their specific tasks and projects varied. “Personally, it was just being able to work with 65 other extremely dedicated and intelligent kids, who all share my same skepticism when we view the criminal justice system and are working to better that in their own way,” Gagarin said. “We could throw our questions out and people would shout back at you and kind of collectively work on something.” Engage with this century’s critical environmental challenges Vermont Law School’s renowned summer program helps build environmental leaders. Learn from our faculty of experts, real-world practitioners who shape environmental law and policy. VLS invites JD students from other law schools to spend two weeks or two months this summer studying energy and the environment. Find out more at www.vermontlaw.edu/summer Legal team Daniel Gagarin, a third-year law student at the University of Texas School of Law, went to the nation’s capital last year for a summer program at The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. Everyone participating in the program was assigned to a lawyer. Gagarin researched recurring issues within criminal trials for his supervising attorney. “The research projects weren’t regarding any specific case, but they were about larger questions that she wanted answered,” Gagarin said. “Eventually, I’d produce a writing sample, a 15-page essay, on what the answer to the question was.” The 28-year-old’s responsibilities certainly were not limited to the library though. “I also got to work on a couple of different cases in the context of a specific individual’s defense,” he said. “Those were the more positive and fulfilling experiences for me.” Gagarin recalled a very complicated, yet rewarding, case that required the efforts of all divisions within the public defender’s office. The criminal, civil and family comRanked #1 in environmental law by U.S. News & World Report THE THOMAS M. COOLEY LAW SCHOOL Toronto, Canada Study Abroad summer law program May 14-June 28, 2008 Join us for our ninth year in Toronto, Canada. For more information about Cooley Law School’s foreign study program, please visit our website at cooley.edu/foreignstudy. Contact foreignstudy@cooley.edu or Associate Dean William Weiner at (517) 371-5140, ext. 2849. February 2008 THE NATIONAL JURIST 39 http://www.vermontlaw.edu/summer http://www.vermontlaw.edu/summer http://cooley.edu/foreignstudy
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