Page 20 - Phoenix Vol 11 No 4

Inspiring Future
Generations of
A orneys
BY MARCOS A. TAPIA, LOS ABOGADOS VICE PRESIDENT
AGUILA is
a vibrant organization that each year attracts more than 200 college bound Latinx high school students in the Phoenix area.
- MARCOS A. TAPIA
Inconjunction with the College of Law at ASU, Professor Charles Cal- leros and with its national partner organization, the Hispanic National Bar As- sociation, Los Abogados has long provided guidance, inspiration, and even sophisticated training to youth who we hope will be future members of the bar. A few notable outreach activities in the Phoenix area in just the last
few months provide illustration.
In December 2018, dozens of attorneys
from Los Abogados and from the visiting board of directors of the HNBA joined law students to visit 45 classes at two middle schools in southwest Phoenix, whose popu- lations are approximately 75 percent Latinx. e mentors reached nearly 1,000 students, providing interactive classes on legal method to eighth-grade students, and presentations on the attorneys’ path to their legal careers in sixth and seventh grade classes.
As a follow-up, more than 250 eighth grad- ers from one of those schools traveled in sepa- rate groups in January and April 2019 to the state capitol to tour the legislature and hear presentations on the legislative process orga- nized by a member of Los Abogados.
Whereas the middle school outreach pro- gram reaches hundreds of students, another mentoring program reaches a handful of high school students, but provides them with an invaluable prelaw experience that spans sev- eral months. Every November, ASU releases a moot court problem for a high school compe- tition that will take place in March. is year the problem raised issues about reasonable cause to arrest a student in school, the scope of a student’s right to free speech in that school, and the standards for a rming or reversing a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in a civil rights suit. As an integral part of its pre- law program with the AGUILA Youth Lead- ership Institute, members of Los Abogados annually provide coaching for AGUILA stu-
dents who plan to compete in this moot. AGUILA is a vibrant organization that each year attracts more than 200 college bound Latinx high school students in the Phoenix area. Its mission is “[t]o empower and pre- pare youth for college admission and gradu- ation through a unique approach based upon a greater cultural understanding as a guide to personal, academic and professional excel- lence as future leaders.” Its members meet all day Saturday once a month for educational programming, and some of them meet extra hours for mentoring associated with certain
professions, from engineering to law.
e AGUILA Prelaw Program conducted by Los Abogados is intensive – an introduc- tion to legal method, followed by weeks of studying the moot court problem, and then helping each student develop arguments for one side, and nally practicing oral argument and answering judges’ questions. As the com- petition nears, students and mentors begin to meet with increasing frequency, from twice a
month to once a week or more.
Each year, AGUILA students have placed at
or near the top of the ASU competition. More important, they gain a sense of maturity, ac- complishment, and professionalism that is in- valuable. e experience of mastering a legal case, dressing in professional attire, and argu- ing the case before attorneys posing as appel- late judges is memorable at the least and at most is transformative. is year, one panel of judges stated that an AGUILA advocate was “amazing.” She and other AGUILA prelaw students will be among the future members of Los Abogados, reaching back to youth who follow in their footsteps.
MARCOS A. TAPIA IS A FORMERLY UN- DOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT WHO AR- RIVED TO THE UNITED STATES FROM MEXICO WHEN HE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD. MARCOS IS AN ASSOCIATE AT TIFFANY & BOSCO PA WHERE HE IS PART OF THE
CIVIL LITIGATION DEPARTMENT AND HE IS THE CUR- RENT VICE PRESIDENT FOR LOS ABOGADOS.
ATTORNEY AT LAW MAGAZINE · PHOENIX· VOL. 11 NO. 4 20