Contact: Darren Johnson, (631) 761-7062        

FINAL EXAM INCLUDES FINAL ARGUMENTS
Students Experience New Courts Program

Touro Law students had a most unusual final exam in December, and instead of No. 2 pencils, they were required to bring a briefcase and wear their best suits.

The final exam wasn’t in a classroom. Instead, third-year law students in Touro’s Trial Practice program met in a real courtroom in the John P. Cohalan, Jr. Courthouse in Central Islip. They took sides in a mock case, presided over by State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Pastoressa.

“The students were terrific,” the judge said afterward. “I was really surprised by their level of preparedness and how they behaved. They came through with flying colors.”

While Judge Pastoressa sometimes offered courtroom advice to students as they argued their sides, he treated them like real lawyers involved in a real civil case.

“There’s no greater tool than practical, pragmatic training,” Pastoressa added. “A majority of law students in this country get their sheepskin and pass the bar without ever having set foot in a courtroom. That’s where Touro is now different.”

The program is headed by the supervisor of the Court Observation Program, Professor Lynne Kramer, who graded the students on their research and presentation skills. Whether or not they made the grade as students depended on whether or not they could make the grade as lawyers.

“Our new Court Observation Program is useful to the students because they get to experience many different facets of legal work, and this helps them make career choices,” Kramer said. “This also makes it easier for the law firms and organizations that hire our students, because they get students with practical training.”

Touro’s Court Observation Program is a first for any law school in the nation. This new approach involves more than reading the law; students live it. First-semester students get a unique behind-the-scenes look at real cases in the state courts right next door. Second-semester students head to the federal court. The judges and lawyers involved with the cases talk with the students at the end of the session, giving them invaluable perspective. Some upper-level students take finals in the Cohalan Courthouse – but these finals don’t just involve pens and bluebooks. Students, playing the role of trial attorneys, try mock cases in real courtrooms before real judges.

“We bring every student into state and federal court,” Kramer said. “That’s the advantage of being in Central Islip. Other law schools can’t do what we can do.”

“Touro has a real opportunity to be a ‘litigation campus,’ ” Judge Pastoressa added, “and the judges next door are more than pleased to be participating in this program. It’s a happy collaboration. Whatever we can do to give the students a practical and pragmatic background will make it easier for all trial judges, as these students will someday come before us and be more polished and professional as a result of this training. That helps every trial judge.”

The program began in Fall 2006 and now is in full swing. Now neighbors, the Law Center, the Alfonse M. D’Amato U.S. Courthouse and the John P. Cohalan, Jr. State Courthouse form a triangle of three important and complementary legal institutions.

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