AUWCL Hosts Program on U.S. Adversarial Court System for Latin American Legal Practitioners
Jan. 27, 2019
From Jan. 13-25, 2020, American University Washington College of Law hosted 16 judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys from across Latin America for the latest iteration of the Diplomado en Litigación Oral Penal.
This program, now in its 5th year, is conducted entirely in Spanish and teaches participants about the U.S. adversarial court system, as many Latin American countries are transitioning to an adversarial model. Participants came from Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile.
Courses were led by faculty from Justice Studies Center of the Americas (CEJA), Universidad Alberto Hurtado, and the AUWCL Trial Advocacy Program. Instructors included CEJA Executive Director Jaime Arellano Quintana; Universidad Alberto Hurtado Professor Rafael Blanco; AUWCL Adjunct Professor Carlos Acosta, associate judge of the District Court of Maryland; and AUWCL Adjunct Professor and Mock Trial Honor Society (MTHS) coach Dennis Clark, assistant U.S. Attorney.
Throughout the two weeks, participants learned the theory behind the U.S. adversarial model and were able to put it into practice, culminating in a final trial on Saturday. They also got to see U.S. practitioners first-hand with their professor, Judge Carlos Acosta, sitting on the bench at the District Court of Maryland.