Clinton student participates in summer law camp
Special to The Clinton Courier
Macy Kate Schoggen of Clinton was among thirty-four high school and college students who watched Circuit and Chancery Court proceedings and got some first-hand experience in negotiations and oral arguments during the Rankin/Madison Future Lawyers program this summer.
“There is a shortage of attorneys in Mississippi. We do this to try to encourage people to go to law school,” said Nicole McDowell, Director of the Mississippi Access to Justice Commission.
The program, held at the Rankin County Courthouse in Brandon, was the last of seven law camps conducted by Circuit and Chancery courts across Mississippi this summer. Similar programs were held in June in Natchez, Vicksburg, Indianola, Gulfport, Starkville and Tupelo.
Students spent part of the first morning of camp watching guilty pleas before Circuit Judge Steve Ratcliff. He encouraged students to visit the courthouse and watch proceedings.
Lawyers and judges talked about various paths to careers in law. Rankin County Chancellor Haydn Roberts said that he earned a degree in biochemistry before deciding to go to law school. He said that he didn’t imagine that he would become a judge.
“I’m able to do what I do because there were good people who poured and poured…into me. We want to pour and pour into the next generation.”
A contract exercise saw students negotiating an NIL contract – name, image and likeness – between a college athlete and an imaginary manufacturer of football cleats. For nearly two hours, teams of three and four students, led by volunteer attorneys, put together their best offers, then haggled with an opposing team in rounds of give and take. Most, although not all, were able to reach agreements for clients’ mutual benefit.
Students watched lawyers present arguments in a civil case on the second morning of camp.
Chancellor Troy Odom, who presided over the hearing, said afterwards, “It’s important for them to see good lawyers on both sides of the room arguing in a professional manner. They saw a judge making rulings. It gave them a good idea of day to day what we do here in the court.”
Later that morning, some of the students squared off as representatives of a plaintiff and a defendant and presented opening statements, questioned witnesses and gave closing arguments in a mock trial wrongful death lawsuit that involved a purported hot air balloon accident.
Circuit Court Staff Attorney Caylan Dunnells, who presided over the mock trial exercise, told the students, “You should be very proud of yourselves, being able to pull that together within twenty-five minutes.”
Circuit Court Staff Attorney Sarah Butler, who spearheaded organization of the law camp, said that the program gave students an opportunity to learn about careers in law and pathways to becoming lawyers while practicing communications and leadership skills.
