Student competition winners from Chicago’s Austin Polytechnic Academy pose with students and staff of The John Marshall LawSchool and their Austin Polytechnic faculty after winning an intellectual property mock trial competition to earn tuition waiversfrom The John Marshall Law School.
Polytechnic Students There weren’t many high school students thinking about patent infringement until The John Marshall Law School developed a program for Austin Polytechnic Academy in Chicago. Now its brightest students are getting hands-on experience in intellectual
property (IP) law.
The specially designed mentorship program is helping the Chicago Public Schools students excel at analyzing technical issues and improve their communication skills as they examine the law.
“We are working with highly motivated high school students who we believe deserve the chance to learn outside the traditional high school curriculum and discover a new set of skills that can help them set new priorities for themselves,” said John Marshall’s Associate Dean Rory Smith, director of the Office of Diversity Affairs.
Although the high school emphasizes an engineering and manufacturing curriculum, it welcomed The John Marshall Law School’s mentorship program because IP issues, like patents, directly impact engineers and manufacturers. “This is a program where the students are going to be
told ‘yes, you can be a lawyer,’ and show them how it’s possible,” Smith added.
IP law covers a range of issues and topics. For this program, the high school students examined patent questions. The semester-long program started at the beginning by introducing them to the understanding of what a patent is and how to protect inventions with patents. For weeks, the Austin students meet with facilitator Donald Moyer, a retired patent agent, and John Marshall Law School student volunteers. Together, they help the high school students review concepts to give students a foundation for their analysis.
Four weeks into the program, the high school students were given a legal issue to assess. In CR v. Orange, the students examined CR’s claim that its 300 computer program was given a patent, but Orange started using it without authority. Orange claimed its changes to the program were obvious. The students took the issues in the case and worked in teams with their John Marshall mentors to develop their arguments on why this patent should be enforced.
After much preparation, the students came to The John Marshall Law School for their day in court. They delivered opening statements, and then served as witnesses for direct and cross examination before the student attorneys gave their closing arguments. Their work was assessed by patent attorneys and judges. The winners received tuition waivers upon acceptance to The
John Marshall Law School.
Austin Polytechnic Academy teacher David Corbin says the program, now in its first year, is encouraging his outstanding students. “It gives them the chance to recognize the value of the
English, math and science courses they’re taking, and it’s an outlet for our motivated students. This is an excellent way to retain them,” he said. Corbin has watched some of his brightest students play down their abilities because of the hassles they have faced. Corbin says this program “is an avenue to be smart without being ridiculed, and it’s building their confidence.”
“I have one student who’s grown leaps and bounds. He wouldn’t say a word, but when it was his turn for direct, he surprised us all. This process really helped him find his voice,” the teacher noted. While a number of students are on the Austin Polytechnic Academy debate team, the John Marshall program helped them understand how to best formulate an argument, and how presentation is important.
“This program helped me make myself more comfortable in speaking,” said Desiree Wordlaw, who said her John Marshall mentor, second-year student Florence Hardy from the Patent Learning and Mentoring Class, was a big help. Smith said the program is designed to benefit the high school students, but it’s also benefitting John Marshall students who are getting practical experience explaining the law and interacting with someone who is relying on them to know the law and be able to help them with it, much as a client would. Corbin said he knows four of his Austin Polytechnic students have now set their sights on law school after college. The John Marshall Law School is making that dream a bit more attainable. Those students judged outstanding in their presentations won $5,000 tuition waivers for The John Marshall Law School. Members of the winning team won $5,000 in tuition waivers.
Winners were: Deserre Wordlaw, opening statement; Guauhtema Mendoza, direct examination of the witness; Jeremiah Garmon, cross examination of the witness; Torres Hughes, closing argument; and Quan Trimele, witness. Winning team members were Norkate Givens, Guauhtema Mendoza, Jermiah Garmon, Torres Hughes, and Quan Trimele.