The Universidad Espiritu Santo (UEES), through its Graduate School of Law organized, in conjunction with Temple University, the No. 1 Oral Litigation University in the United States, and the Chilean Academy of Oral Litigation., The program includes an intensive training program with international experts in oral litigation and rules of evidence.
The bootcamp, which was held for the first time in Ecuador, took place from May 28 to June 7 in hybrid mode. The training phase took place at the UEES campus. It was aimed at law students, judges, prosecutors and the general public interested in strengthening their oral litigation skills.
The program included the participation of renowned international and international academics and litigators: John Smagula, Marissa Boyers, Jules Epstein, professors at Temple University, Felipe Vásquez, Claudio Puccinelli and Paula de la Cuadra from the Academy of Oral Litigation of Chile; and Diego Zalamea, visiting professor at the UEES Graduate School of Law..
Felipe Vásquez, director of the Academy of Oral Litigation of Chile, said: “Today it is very difficult for us to take the time to innovate and risk learning in a place where judges, students, defenders and prosecutors are all the same. When we have the task of transmitting a message, we realize how necessary it is to continue learning and that you cannot learn if you do not have a leader who has the ability to teach”.
For its part, John Smagula, vice dean, Temple School of Law said: “while you learn from us, we learn from you, from your dialogues, from your ways of expressing and analyzing, and we are grateful for this opportunity”.
Pablo Alarcón, Director of the UEES Graduate School of Law He emphasized that in this way the university provides a transnational component to their education. “The students were able to learn how oral litigation operates in the United States, not only from a theoretical point of view, but fundamentally from a practical one. These comparative components were adapted to the national regulatory reality through simulated litigation exercises and role-playing. All this in our Jorge Zavala Baquerizo Courtroom,” he said.
“In times of corruption like the ones the country is going through, this is the most important way in which we can contribute to the justice system. The more we make lawyers, judges and prosecutors more technical, the more likely it is that the bad guys will not find space in the judicial system, because they will be surpassed by prepared professionals, whose professional practice will be based on ethics, on loyalty to justice”, he concluded.
This event was made possible thanks to the strategic alliance between UEES and Temple University, which includes a dual degree program.
With initiatives such as this, UEES reaffirms its commitment to academic excellence and the internationalization of legal education, creating deeply enriching spaces that connect Ecuador with the best legal practices in the world, all with a view to contributing to justice.
