CLOVIS -- In a press
release today, Wagner Catherine O'Grady, director of clinical
programs at the Arizona State University College of Law,
is determined that the students she trains will be up on the
latest technology trends in the legal industry.
For the past two years, she has been
working on the remodel of ASU's student courtroom into a state-of-the-art
facility, complete with computers, cameras, scanners, lasers,
recording equipment and digital technology.
The courtroom is being paid for by
the university and by Phoenix attorney John "Chip" Harris, who
donated half the funds in memory of his son Ryan. It will ready
for classes by this fall, O'Grady said. O'Grady told the
Clovis Free Press, the new courtroom will have student seating
on different levels and offer various camera angles, so students
may watch different aspects of a trial at the same time.
"We will be the first in the country
to shake up the notion that spectators have to look at the back
of people's heads," said O'Grady. "Our new courtroom will have
tiered student seating and four different camera angles so students
can see all the different angles on a large screen." Professors
in the clinical program will be able to repeat what happened
in "court" during a class discussion with the click of a mouse.
ASU's techno-courtroom is expected
to put the Tempe university one step ahead of the University
of Arizona's "Courtroom of the Future" that was launched in
1994.
"The new courtroom at ASU will eclipse
what we have," said Winton Woods, who has been teaching courtroom
and law office technology at UA since 1994. "I need new monitors
and projection equipment that can show large images and handle
the new software. I'm hoping for an angel like Cathy got," he
said of O'Grady.
According to Patricia White, dean of
the ASU College of Law, Wood was the Arizona pioneer for training
law students in the use of courtroom technology. "We are copying
many aspects of his courtroom of the future," she said. "His
model was impressive, and he has worked graciously with Cathy
in designing ours.
"Technology training is a necessity
for litigators, and it must become a part of litigation training,"
she said. "We have a responsibility to our students to make
sure they have the skills necessary to compete and succeed in
today's legal market."
[Editor's Note: The most
recent three years of final examinations at the College of Law
are available in the College's Copy Center (Room 7A). The IKON
Copy Service in the Law Library also has exams available for
copying.
The Law Library retains bound volumes in the reserve collection
for prior years back to 1968. The library also offers selected
exams through the web. Check out ASU College of Law Library
exam files and the Law School's Web Site --
http://www.law.asu.edu]
