FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 10, 2005

CONTACT: Russell Lovell, (515) 271-1806 or Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833

SLAM DANCING, HEAVY METAL AND A PLACE CALLED HAIRY MARY’S:
JUST MORE CLASS WORK FOR FIRST-YEAR DRAKE LAW STUDENTS

Though “Law & Order: Trial By Jury” and Court TV, television pretends to offer insight into the American justice system, first-year Drake University Law School students will be getting the real deal beginning Monday, Feb. 14.

More than 175 students will observe an actual Iowa district court case from jury selection through verdict and receive exclusive debriefings with the trial lawyers, the judge and an especially rare question-and-answer session with jurors after the closing. The case will be tried in the courtroom of the Neal and Bea Smith Law Center, 24th Street and University Avenue.

The case the students will observe is Brad Morgan v. Hairy Mary’s Inc. et al. Morgan alleges that a broken wrist and other injuries he sustained in 2002 while slam dancing in a mosh pit at Hairy Mary’s, a popular heavy metal bar near Drake’s campus at 23rd Street and University Ave., were due to the negligence of the bar’s owners.

The case features two of Des Moines’ top attorneys: Alfredo Parrish representing Morgan, and George Appleby representing Hairy Mary’s Inc.

Coordinated by Drake law professor Russell Lovell, this observation gives students the unique opportunity to see a trial inside and out in a way they can’t get through a half-dozen flavors of “Law & Order” or even other law schools.

“This is cutting edge education,” Lovell says. “Drake is the only law school in the country that cancels classes for a week so its first-year students can observe a jury trial from beginning to end. The Trial Practicum is the laboratory that makes the first-year classroom, the book learning, come alive.”

The Drake Law School works with the state court system to screen more than 200 cases for potential observation during the trial practicum week. At least 25 lawyers and judges volunteer to help coordinate the event – all to give the future barristers a preview of their coming career.

“This is like a Cecil B. DeMille production,” Lovell says. “There’s a cast of thousands involved. We work with numerous judges, court administrators, court personnel, deputy sheriffs, attorneys, the state court system and the parties involved very closely to pull this off every year. Most people are surprised to learn Drake is the only law school that provides this law-in-action educational experience. Not just any law school can do what we’ve been doing here for eight years now.”

Students will be assigned to small groups led by veteran attorneys, judges and members of the law faculty. About 25 professionals in the law field are volunteering their time for this project. The students will rotate between watching the trial live in the clinic’s courtroom and observing it on closed-circuit television from several conference rooms throughout the clinic.

Students will participate in both large and small group sessions that will provide on-the-spot commentary. Discussion of the events in the courtroom, with special focus on jury selection, evidence, litigation practice, professionalism and procedure – as well as the law involved in the case – will occur.

“It is a surprising fact that most law school graduates have never observed a trial – civil or criminal – at any point in their education the way these students will as part of their first year of school,” Lovell says. “This is a highlight of their first year, if not their entire law school experience and goes a long way to making them better lawyers in the future.”

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