Litigation Skills Program Awards Scholarships to Top Students

Miami Law's Litigation Skills Program recently awarded six scholarships to its top students who distinguished themselves through their hard work and talent.

By UM News 12-09-2013

Danielle Singer accepted two of the awards given to students enrolled in the semester-long Litigation Skills I course – the Litigation Skills Adjunct Faculty Scholarship and the Thomas Ewald Memorial Award. The Litigation Skills Adjunct Faculty Scholarship is awarded to a second or third year student who has demonstrated excellence in advocacy, professionalism and civility in the Lit Skills I class. Students Daniela Ferro and Thomas White also received this scholarship. The Thomas Ewald Memorial Award is given to a student who best exemplifies the devotion to high standards and ethical conduct followed by Thomas Ewald. This award comes with a Montblanc pen - homage to the late Ewald, the Miami Law litigation professor who was known to carry the pen in his shirt pocket.

Pauline Green was awarded the Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton Scholarship. As part of her winnings, she received from the law firm a $10,000 scholarship, which is awarded to one minority law student who has completed the Litigation Skills program and has expressed an interest in trial advocacy. Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton have been donating their time and funds to Miami Law's Litigation Skills Program since its establishment in 1995. The law firm has also hired Miami Law graduates who have taken courses the Program offers.

Beyond litigation training for the courtroom, the Litigation Skills Program incorporates feedback from active serving judges and lawyers. Students even have to dabble in theatrics training. During the art of persuasion portion of the curriculum, students are critiqued by faculty at the University of Miami Theatre department on their ability to put on a good show.

The performance, combined with strategic thinking, is what Professor Laurence Rose, director of the Litigation Skills Program, says are ultimately the variables that made certain student cases more favorable than others.

Additional winners included:

James Sadler, Patrick Wilson and Garrett Nemeroff each received the John F. Evans Memorial Scholarship, a $2,000 award, which was established in 1989 in memory of John F. Evans, a criminal defense attorney, former deputy chief of the U.S. State Department's Miami Strike Force, and founding partner of the law firm of Zuckerman, Spaeder, Taylor and Evans.
Javier Enriquez took home the Marco A. Vazquez Memorial Scholarship, a $7,000 award which was established in 1996 in memory of a former Miami Law graduate.
Marielle Moore received the Honorable Theodore Klein Endowed Scholarship, a $2,000 award, which was established in 2006 in memory of a former Law Professor and Federal Magistrate who was known for being a leader among his peers.