Seton Hall Law professor, Ronald Riccio ran a mock law class for University students interested in learning how a class would be run on Tuesday, Nov. 19 in Young Auditorium.
Riccio is a law professor at Seton Hall and is a practicing lawyer from the law firm McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney and Carpenter.
Dylan Hankinson, a senior political science major attended the event and was impressed by Riccio. “After taking Dr. Bordelon’s class and being exposed to this seminar I feel ready to go off to law school, and a weight has been lifted.”
He also said that another reason he felt ready for law school, was because of Bordelon’s Media Law class, in which you go over almost all these cases, learn how to draft case dockets, and cover other types of law.
Dr. Gregory Bordelon, lecturer for the Political Science and Sociology Department said,“I wanted the students at Monmouth University to be exposed to the legal education which is different than an undergraduate experience, and Monmouth University has always had a good relationship with Seton Hall, Seton Hall’s strongest graduates have been from Monmouth University,” said Bordelon.
Hankinson said, “I expected Mr. Riccio to start throwing complicated terms at us, however everything he said for the most part I knew about and was able to follow on with the seminar, which was about First Amendment rights.”
Riccio started off by explaining the first amendment as well as all of its subsections followed by Supreme Court Cases such as Texas v. Johnson, Schenck v. United States and Brandenburg v. Ohio.
The Texas v. Johnson case, involved a gentleman who burnt the American Flag during a protest and was released on First Amendment rights. The whole seminar class was this re-telling of cases and a back and forth conversation with Mr. Riccio about our thoughts on the case, how to think, act like a lawyer, and the difference between inferring and just looking at the evidence.
If you are in the same situation as Hankinson was before the seminar and felt that law school was a major pipe dream, or felt nervous then Bordelon encourages students to meet with him.
“The Pre-Law Program was established to help students obtain all the necessary information and step by step instructions to taken the LSAT and applying to law school, it’s a task that should not be done by one self, it is the department and university job to make sure that all students have succeeded in what ever field they have chosen.”
Mimi Hung, assistant admission advisor for Seton Hall Law School, exclaimed at the seminar how she has not received as many admission applications over the past year and that it is a perfect time to apply to law school, especially since when you graduate three years from now the job market will look much more promising, she explained.
