Training a Generation of Young Lawyers

By 

Jay Sekulow

|
June 24, 2011

3 min read

ACLJ

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At the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), one of the things we spend a lot of time doing is training a generation of young lawyers.  Our Virginia offices are located on the fourth floor of Regent Universitys School of Law.  At any given time, we have 20 law students who serve as law clerks for ACLJ lawyers around the United States.  These law students get invaluable experience in cases ranging from local school boards to the Supreme Court of the United States.  In fact, we have six students currently working out of our Washington, DC office, who will spend an entire semester working with our Legislative Affairs and Supreme Court Litigation Team. 

 

Several of our ACLJ attorneys also teach law school classes to students both on our Virginia campus and our campus in Washington, DC.  I teach a course each semester to 40 students on Supreme Court history and current Supreme Court cases.  In addition, 50 students participate in our program on International Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.  This program, co-sponsored by our European Centre for Law & Justice, will be expanded to over 60 students.  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft actually teaches in this program along with a number of our key staff. 

 

Last year, our Regent Law students won the National Moot Court Competition sponsored by the American Bar Association (ABA) in Chicago.  This is one of the top two prestigious ABA programs in the country, with the other being the ABAs National Negotiations Competition.  I am happy to report that this past weekend, students from Regent Universitys School of Law won first place in the ABAs National Negotiation Competition at the national championship competition in Miami.  Over 220 teams from 122 law schools began the competition in regional tournaments around the country, with only 24 teams from 21 law schools represented in the finals. 

 

The Regent team of Stephen Pfeiffer and Dawn Young won first place led by Regent Law professor Eric DeGroff.  According to the ABA web site, The ABA Law Student Divisions Negotiation Competition promotes greater interest among law students in legal negotiation and provides a means for them to practice and improve their negotiating skills. The competition simulates legal negotiations in which law students, acting as lawyers, negotiate a series of legal problems.

 

Currently, Regent University School of Law holds the titles in both the ABA's National Moot Court Competition and the ABA's Negotiations Competition.  This is an unprecedented and significant win for our university, for our students, and for the future of religious liberties litigation.

 

These are exciting successes for the extraordinary program at Regent Law.  Winning these esteemed titles clearly shows that Regent Law is one of the best law schools in the country providing students with a quality education in a Christ-centered environment.  Were delighted that Regent captured this recent title and look forward to many more successes from the students, faculty and staff at Regent Law.  We are committed at the American Center for Law & Justice to training a generation of young lawyers to defend freedom and liberty in the United States and around the world.