The following news item is printed in its entirety as it appeared in The New Haven County Bar Association Magazine, November 2006:

Appellate Court Visits Wilbur Cross High School
By Stephen Rosenberg and Karen Kravetz
October 12, 2006

On October 12, 2006, the Connecticut Appellate Court convened an actual court session in the auditorium of New Haven's Wilbur Cross High School. This special event was the idea of the Honorable Lubbie Harper Jr., an Appellate Court judge who is a graduate of Wilbur Cross.

Students from New Haven's public high schools attended the arguments, which were presided over by a panel consisting of Judge Harper, Judge Chase Rogers and Judge Douglas Levine. The judges heard oral arguments in two criminal appeals, State of Connecticut v. Charlie Santiago, which involved a murder conviction, and State of Connecticut v. Kenneth Wells, which involved convictions for attempt to commit first-degree assault and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault.

After arguments for each case, the judges and court staff left the auditorium to allow the students to participate in a question and answer session with guest panelists Attorney Tara Knight, Professor Ronald Sullivan of Yale Law School, and Professor Timothy Everett of the University of Connecticut School of Law. The students also asked questions of the four attorneys who argued the cases: Lauren Weisfeld, Nancy Chupak, Glenn Falk and James Ralls.

The students prepared their questions with the help of the New Haven County Bar Association and local attorneys, who had visited classrooms on September 27th to teach the students about the court system, courtroom decorum, and the two cases that the Appellate Court would hear on October 12th.

This year, the NHCBA is celebrating over 100 years of serving local attorneys and the community. "Public education is and always has been a very important part of our mission", said Joseph L. Rini, NHCBA Immediate Past President and a member of the organizing committee. The idea for the event was created during Rini's year.

"This is one of the biggest events the NHCBA Public Service Committee has ever hosted and represents a wonderful collaboration between the Bar and high school teachers", stated Carolyn Kone, co-chair of the NHCBA Public Service Committee, event organizer and an attorney at Brenner, Saltzman & Wallman in New Haven.

In preparation for the Appellate Court event, the NHCBA collaborated with the Judge Harper and the Judicial Branch, twenty-six attorneys, fifteen law firms and legal organizations, thirteen high school teachers, professors from Yale, University of Connecticut and Quinnipiac University, and hundreds of students at ten area high schools.

NHCBA would like to thank the entire Appellate Court, and Judge Harper in particular, for providing the students with this wonderful learning experience. NHCBA would also like to thank the New Haven Public School system, the teachers at New Haven's high schools, and the attorneys who devoted their time and energy to this endeavor (see related box).

Finally, many thanks go to the members of the organizing committee, who spent hours pulling everything together: Rini, Kone, Karen Kravetz (Susman, Duffy & Segaloff), Rachel Mandel (Tyler Cooper), Stephen Rosenberg (Murtha Cullina), and NHCBA staff member Martha Messier.

APPELLATE COURT PROJECT Thank you to the Volunteers!
The New Haven County Bar Association and its Public Service Committee would like to extend grateful appreciation to the following attorneys for all the time and effort they provided to insure the success of the Appellate Court's visit to Wilbur Cross High School on October 12, 2006.
Simon Allentuch Darcy McGraw Altman Deborah J. Cantrell Christopher B. Carveth William Dow Professor Timothy Everett,     Yale Law School Justin Fappiano Sean Fisher Loni Gardner June Gold Jane Grossman David S. Hardy Robert C. Hinton Nancy Kinsella Tara Knight Carolyn W. Kane Karen Kravetz	Frederick P. Leaf Christopher M. Licari Andrew R. Lubin Rachel Mandel Chris R. Nelson Everett E. Newton Kathryn A. (Kate) O'Brien Rosemarie Paine John M. Parese Joseph L. Rini Stephen Rosenberg Ben A. Solnit David R. Schaefer Professor Ronald Sullivan,     UConn Law School Jennifer Vickery Stephen Wright