Delaware-trained Ecuadorian lawyers
The three-year partnership between the English Language Institute and Widener Law School in Delaware and the Catholic University Law School in Quito, Ecuador, culminated this year with a program in which Ecuadorian lawyers who previously trained in Delaware helped instruct other lawyers in their country in courtroom procedure and oral advocacy.
“It is really exciting when the students become the instructors as a result of what they have learned in Delaware,” said Christopher Wolfe, ELI legal studies coordinator.
In the summer of 2003, Professor Thomas Reed of Widener Law School traveled to Quito to conduct an intensive trial advocacy program hosted by Catholic University.While Reed was the lead instructor during the two-week program, he was assisted by several Ecuadorian professors trained in Delaware in 2001 and 2002.
Quito participants learned the skills of conducting a live, oral trial: developing a trial strategy, presenting a legal argument, questioning friendly and hostile witnesses, introducing physical evidence and attacking the credibility of the opposition.
“This training is unavailable anywhere else in the country,” said Wolfe.
The program was funded by the U.S. Department of State to modernize Ecuador’s legal education and courtroom procedures, in particular criminal trial practice, by moving from purely written, documentary proceedings to live oral trials. During the first two years of the program,Wolfe and Reed, together with Widener University professor Phyllis Bookspan, traveled at various times to Ecuador to participate in conferences and give lectures at Catholic University Law School. In addition, Ecuadorian law professors, judges and other legal professionals took part in several American Law and Legal English Institutes at ELI, which included classes and seminars in American law and “hands-on” mock trials at Widener University.
“The grant has had a direct impact on the quality and content of legal education and trial advocacy in Ecuador,” said Wolfe.