DLA Weblog

California's 200,000th lawyer a Dartmouth grad

The California State Bar has roughly doubled in the past 15 years, and Dartmouth lawyer Danika Vittitoe became the 200,000th admitted in January 2005. A Long Beach native and English Lit major in Hanover, Atty. Vittitoe got her law degree from Hastings. The DLA is unable to find any basis to take any credit for Danika's accomplishment, but is glad to congratulate her as a representative of all the new Dartmouth lawyers admitted to state bars this winter.
Source: California Bar Journal: 200,000 lawyers and counting (Feb. 2005)

Doug Simpson '70
DLA's "Webster"

New volunteers for DLA Committee to Stop Genocide in Sudan seeks help

Jim Laughlin (Dartmouth '64) and his friend Bill O'Brien (Norwich '64) have volunteered to write a section on Peacekeeping in the report of the Dartmouth Lawyers Committee to Stop Genocide in Sudan.

Jim, a 1967 graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, has extensive experience as an army intelligence officer in Vietnam, including photo recon missions, and finished with First Army general staff in Maryland. Bill served as a tank platoon commander in Europe in the 1960's and recently retired from the army reserves with the rank of Colonel after years of experience in Civil Affairs Branch. He was assigned to help get things up and running in Grenada following the US intervention there.

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Jim and Bill will prepare the committee's independent assessment of the number of troops and military assets (and how they should be deployed) needed to safeguard 1.85 million refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. The Peacekeeping section and the Humanitarian Aid section of the report are critical elements of the report to be prepared by the DLA Committee.

In the short run, the best we can hope to do is feed the refugees and provide medical care, but we can't do that without security. We understand that an estimated 70,000 refugees have died from malnutrition and illness and another 300,000 are estimated to have died from violence. Right now the only "peacekeeping" forces in the region are 1,000 African Union troops who have no mandate to provide security.

Jim and Bill will be assisted by associates of John Mathias '69 at Jenner and Block in Chicago where John is a partner. The completed report will be sent to Congress, the Bush administration, and the UN.

The Dartmouth Lawyers Committee to Stop Genocide in Sudan continues to welcome volunteers who may be able to help with its efforts. To help, contact Al Moncure '69 in New York, AMoncure "at" law.nyc.gov

Doug Simpson '70
DLA "Webster"

Dartmouth's Mock Trial Soc. Wins Again

This past weekend, Dartmouth's Mock Trial Society competed in the Manchester Community College Regional Tournament in Manchester, CT. Big Green teams took home top honors for the College, and for the third year in a row, Dartmouth Mock Trial Society earned a bid to a national championship. Jenny Fisher won an award as Best Witness. The full PR follows
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Manchester, CT - The Dartmouth Mock Trial Society completed the Manchester Regional Tournament from January 28th-29th, qualifying one team to the National Intercollegiate Mock Trial Tournament. Dartmouth's two teams were outstanding at the first of this year's regional tournaments, winning individual awards, garnering numerous citations, and making a strong showing against tough competition. The Manchester Regional tournament hosted competitive teams from traditional mock trial powerhouses, including Yale, Manchester, Boston University, and Brown, and is well-known for its overall level of difficulty,

In mock trial competitions participants prepare in the roles of attorneys and witnesses based upon a nationwide fact pattern provided each year by a national collegiate body, the American Mock Trial Association. Students then try their cases against teams from other colleges and universities by competing in regional and national-level tournaments. Rounds are judged by practicing attorneys or judges, and competitors are scored based upon the professionalism and effectiveness of the cases they present. The top teams from each tournament are given bids to the National Intercollegiate Tournament in either Florida or Kentucky (formerly known as the "Silver Flight nationals") and the National Championship Tournament in Des Moines (previously the "Gold Flight national"). Competitions consist of four rounds with two judges each, for a total of eight potential "ballots" to win each tournament.

Team Green, with attorneys Cordelia Zukerman (06), Stuart Reid (08), Sean Macrae (08) and William Dekrey (08) and witnesses Jennifer Fisher (08), Elizabeth Kolleeny (08), and Sarah Stern (08), finished with a record of 6-2 earning 4th overall tournament, only losing two close ballots to the eventual 1st place team. Their outstanding record earned them a bid to the National Intercollegiate Tournament. Fisher was recognized for her individual performance, winning one of ten Outstanding Witness Awards as one of the top participants at the competition.

Team Orange, with attorneys Evan Mendelson (06), Norah Comstock (08), and Benjamin Wilson (07), and witnesses Ozea Brown (08), Paul Bousquet (08), Dave Stanek (07), and Dan Racic (07), finished the tournament with a record of 3-5. The team put up a strong showing against very stiff competition, with several members repeatedly receiving recognition for their excellent performances.

Since its inception during the 1996-97 school year, Dartmouth's performance at regional tournaments has been improving with almost perfect consistency. Dartmouth's first year of competition resulted in a bid to the gold flight tournament. After a brief slump in '97-'98, Dartmouth went on to win a spot to the silver flight tournament in '98-'99, a bid to the gold flight tournament in '99-'00, two bids to the silver flight tournament in '00-'01, and one bid each to the silver and gold tournaments in '01-'02. In addition, Dartmouth finished 1st at the silver flight tournament of '01, earning another bid to that year's gold flight. Since that time Dartmouth has continued to send two teams annually to the national tournaments and improved its performance at the national competition every year. The precedent that has been set by the two Dartmouth teams at the Manchester Regional means that the remaining two competition teams will have a tough act to follow at the Worcester Regional Tournament, which will be held during the weekend of February 26th.

Dartmouth's Mock Trial Society and its competition teams are student-led and student-directed.

Endquote

In its press release, the Dartmouth Mock Trial society thanked its faculty advisor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, as well as Bob Donin and Weyman Lundquist '52 for their support and advice. The Dartmouth Mock Trial Society expressed gratitude for the continued financial support of the Committee on Student Organizations and the Student Activities Office.

More information about the Society is at its website at: www.dartmouth.edu/~mtrial

Doug Simpson '70
DLA Webster

DLA Job Board grows

The Jobs, Speakers and Links section of DLA's Community Forum continues to grow in usage as five Dartmouth people post jobs offered or sought. They include recent grads and law students looking for positions in the legal field and multiple opportunities from a leading Hartford law firm.

To post a job offered or sought, or a need for a speaker / presenter in a particular field, simply register a UserName and Password with a working email address (which our system will confirm within a few moments) at the DLA Community Forum. Easy, fast, free.

This is one of the many services supported by the Dartmouth Lawyers Association. More information is available on its website, DLA.org

Doug Simpson '70

Kenya and Scotland Attys needed

Tom Repczynski, '91 is in search of attorneys in Kenya and Scotland to assist a U.S. software-development client with contracting and general business (e.g. licensure, taxation) issues as the client looks to expand into these markets.

Tom has asked the DLA's assistance in making a connection. While a Dartmouth lawyer would be nice to find, Tom is open minded on pedigree. He's asked that you use this email address (you'll need to manually enter it, as its been 'diced' to protect against Loathsome Spammers that harvest email addresses from innocent message boards and blogs): twr "at" beankinney.com. Thanks again.

Bean, Kinney and Korman, P.C. is a Northern Virginia law firm in which Tom is a shareholder. His postal address is as follows:

Thomas W. Repczynski, Esq.
Bean, Kinney and Korman, P.C.
2000 N. 14th Street, Suite 100
Arlington, Virginia 22201
(703) 525-4000; (703) 525-2207 (fax)
trepczynski "at" beankinney.com

DougSimpson '70