Lauren M. Bennett L’13 took time from her bar examination studies to present oral argument to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals on July 10 in a prisoner’s civil rights case upon which she worked while a student in the Law School’s Federal Appellate Litigation Externship. The externship is a close partnership between the Law School and the law firm of Dechert LLP in which third year students are teamed with Dechert partners and associates on pro bono cases pending in the Third Circuit.
The members of each team work closely together to research, strategize, and brief appellate arguments on behalf of their client. Students are certified under local rules of the Third Circuit and, if the opportunity arises, may present oral argument to the Court.
Lauren (center) poses after the argument outside the U.S. Courthouse in Philadelphia with the lawyers who supervised her, attorneys Jennings F. Durand, Christopher Varano and Carolyn H. Hazard (right to left), and with her faculty supervisor, Professor Louis Rulli.