Spring 2007 Recipients of the Irvine E. Ungerman Award for Excellence in Clinical Legal Practice
by Sheila Reynolds
Amy Coppola and Maria Nieto were the co-recipients of the Ungerman Award for the outstanding clinical intern in the spring of 2007. Although they each handled several cases during the semester, they distinguished themselves in one case on which they were co-counsel, by highly competent and professional representation of a client seeking to adopt her great grandson over the objection of the child's mother. The case required research and written memoranda on the legal issues of parental unfitness and consideration of the best interests of the child in an adoption proceeding, a motion, memorandum, and court argument to compel discovery, a pretrial questionnaire and hearing, and finally, a full day trial, with nine witnesses, including two expert witnesses. Amy and Maria demonstrated a wide variety of lawyering skills in the short span of seven weeks they had to prepare for the trial from the time the case was assigned to them. They both gained the trust and confidence of the client and worked well with each other and with others they encountered in the representation. Throughout the representation, they worked extremely diligently and with enthusiasm and thus are most deserving of this honor.
What is the Ungerman?
The Irvine E. Ungerman Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice is awarded twice yearly to two legal interns who have distinguished himself or herself by providing highly competent representation to clients in a manner exemplifying the ideals of our profession: "pursuit of the learned art in the spirit of a public service."
In selecting the recipient of this award, the Clinic faculty considers the intern's accomplishment in acquiring the fundamental lawyer skills including problem solving, legal analysis and research, factual investigation, counseling, negotiation, trial skills, ability to recognize and resolve ethical dilemmas, and ability to work with others.
The recipient should be one who treats other people (clients, supervisory faculty, other attorneys, and support staff) with dignity and respect. The recipient should exhibit some common characteristics of the professional: one who earns client trust by serving both the client's interest and the public good while working diligently and enthusiastically on the client's behalf. In our collective judgment, the recipient will be one, who, in making the transition from law student to lawyer will be likely to critically evaluate his or her own performance as a professional and reflect on and learn from the experience of representing clients. This reflective attitude should be apparent in our Law Clinic representation.
Finally, and importantly, the recipient should have demonstrated a sense of the "special responsibility for the quality of justice" and have exhibited a commitment to promoting justice, fairness, and morality in daily law practice.
This award was established to honor one of our outstanding alums, Irvine E. Ungerman. Mr. Ungerman practiced in Tulsa, Oklahoma and died in 1980. This award is currently being funded by an anonymous donor.
