On Monday, Sept. 18, Henness & Haight attorney Andrew Barton presented as a guest speaker to high school juniors at Advanced Technologies Academy, a high school here in Las Vegas. “A-Tech,” as the school is more commonly known, is a pubic magnet school offering students a variety of specialized programs, including legal studies.
As a guest speaker for a Trial Advocacy class, Andrew spoke to A-Tech students about his experience in the legal field, giving them an inside perspective on legal proceedings, the trial process, and the path to becoming a lawyer.
“I think that it was really worthwhile to help out those students,” Andrew said. “I enjoyed it, and I know they did too. I told them about what my career as a personal injury attorney consists of. I explained to them what I learned in trial when I first started as an attorney and how it’s different from what you see on TV.”
David Eason, the class’s instructor, was a practicing lawyer for about 30 years in Michigan before coming to Las Vegas to teach high school students at A-Tech. Mr. Eason commented on Andrew’s time with his class.
“He was a terrific speaker, he really kept the talk interesting,” Eason stated. “He shared a lot of his own personal experience with the class, about both his time in court as well as his daily responsibilities as a plaintiff attorney. He was vibrant and enthusiastic, and very responsive to the students; he answered all of their questions, and they had a lot. The students were all very engaged, and there were a lot of smiles and even laughter in the room, which was great to see.”
A-Tech’s legal studies program exposes students to the many different facets and specializations within the field of law. Over the course of the four-year program, students focus on civil law, legal research, rules of evidence, and legal writing, and they even gain appellate experience during their senior year. The students also participate in mock trials and are taken on field trips to the law library and courts. Andrew’s visit to the school was the first time that a plaintiff injury attorney had spoken to the Trial Advocacy class.
“Andrew shared a lot of information about what the students are learning about right now, which was great,” Eason stated. “He was truly exceptional.”
“Really, though, I was surprised how much the students knew already,” Andrew remarked. “The kids asked some really great questions. They were asking about things they’d learned in their classes that I didn’t even know about until law school! If I had the opportunity, I’d love to be a guest speaker at a school again, to help give students advice and to give them a better idea of what it takes to become an attorney.”