Students participate in moot trial

Pre-law program 2000 students of the Northern Marianas College exhibited excellent potential as lawyers as they argued a case before the court last Friday in a moot trial designed to prepare them for the rigorous demands of law school.

NMC professor Edward J. Bronson said he was proud at the way the students presented the case in front of CNMI’s most distinguished panel of court judges and attorneys which included Atty. General Herb Soll, Asst. Atty. General Lucia Blanco-Maratita, and Asst. Public Defender Robert Torres, to name few.

According to Prof. Bronson, the activity was devised to teach the students legal analysis, legal reasoning, and moral advocacy.

A preparatory course for law proper, NMC’s pre-law program has failed to slate a mock trial for its students since 1994, according to Prof. Bronson.

Taking opposite sides of the case, the students tried to prove and disprove a certain defendant’s immunity from service of process as he had to go to the state of Illinois to testify on a trial.

“In this case, the defendant was served with summons in another case and the question is what test should we apply to see if he has immunity or he immune in either one of the test,” said the professor.

“And they were terrific. They gave very nice arguments. I enjoyed watching them today and I am very proud of them. I think they’re all ready to go to law school,” he added.

Though the students were not formally graded for their performance, the visiting professors and the audience gave them thumbs-up for a job well done, as they only had three days to prepare for the trial.

Moot court trials are usually part of the first year law proper program which otherwise needs more intensive preparation and research, the professor said.

“We had a limited time to expose them and get them ready. This is a very compressed three-week course. But this is only designed to prepare them and not replicate the entire first year experience,” he explained.

After the moot trial, pre-law program students were recognized for completing the three-week program sponsored by the Northern Marianas College, Office of the Attorney General, CNMI Judiciary, and the CNMI Bar Association.

Those who received certificates for the course were Genevieve S. Cabrera, Elsie Dela Cruz, Vincent Dela Cruz, Patrick V. Diaz, Michael N. Evangelista, Janet King, Augustus D. Loste, Eleanor Loste, Isaac Magofna, Raymond S. Masga, Lynn Pangelinan, Andrew Salas, Joey P. San Nicolas, Rosemond B. Santos, Rachel Taimanao, Pedro T. Untalan, and Chun-Lu Wang. (MM)