Brown Rudnick LLP, through its Center for the Public Interest,
has given $25,000 to the Massachusetts Bar Association's 2013
Statewide High School Mock Trial Program. Brown Rudnick has been
the lead financial underwriter since 1998 and has contributed more
than $400,000 to the program, in its 28th year.
"We are indebted to Brown Rudnick for its unwavering support of
the MBA's successful Mock Trial Program," MBA President Robert L.
Holloway Jr. said. "This critical program educates young people
across the Bay State about the intricacies of the court system
while broadening their leadership skills."
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. In this year's criminal case,
the prosecution alleges the defendant poisoned and killed his
great-aunt by tampering with her medication. The defense claims the
great-aunt either died of a natural heart attack or was murdered by
either her live-in caretaker or another relative upset about her
reduction of their inheritance.
"Mock trial, at its core, is about teaching in real time how to
have civil discourse and reasoned debate. Although the MBA
Statewide High School Mock Trial Program is in its 28th
year, and Brown Rudnick's sponsorship is in its second decade,
these lessons could hardly be more relevant or important in today's
American society," said Al Wallis, executive director of Brown
Rudnick's Center for the Public Interest. "Brown Rudnick is
proud to continue to play a part in developing these abilities in
today's high school students through our support for the MBA's Mock
Trial Program."
At least 1,500 students at 135 schools across the commonwealth
are expected to participate in the 2013 Mock Trial Program. More
than 100 lawyers across the state will serve as volunteer coaches
and judges.