Firm donates $25,000 to Mock Trial Program
Brown Rudnick, through its Center for Public Interest, recently donated $25,000 to the Massachusetts Bar Association’s 2009 Mock Trial Program. Brown Rudnick has been the lead financial underwriter of this program, contributing more than a quarter million dollars since 1998.
“We are sincerely grateful for Brown Rudnick’s continued support of this important community learning program, which provides hundreds of Bay State students participatory-educational opportunities with the legal system,” MBA President Edward W. McIntyre said.
The popular high school Mock Trial competition begins its 24th year next month. First organized in 1985, the tournament places high school students in a simulated courtroom to assume the roles of lawyers and witnesses in a hypothetical case.
This year’s criminal case involves a murder trial. The defendant, a veteran, raises Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as an insanity defense and as a defense in mitigation of the charge of first degree murder.
“The MBA Mock Trial Program is a legacy project for Brown Rudnick,” said Al Wallis, executive director of the Brown Rudnick Center for the Public Interest. “Supporting and coaching students in mock trials through several programs in Massachusetts and Connecticut has been an important part of our focus on improving inner city education. The mock trial partnership with the MBA program, which Brown Rudnick has supported for over a decade, has been consistently rewarding for all involved.”
At least 1,500 students at more than 100 schools across the commonwealth are expected to participate in the 2009 Mock Trial Program. More than 100 lawyers across the state will serve as volunteer coaches and judges.
Last year, Newton South High School won the state championship and placed 22nd in the national tournament.