Coincidences


I returned a few hour ago from New Haven, where I acted as a judge in a moot court competition. This was a new experience for me. I have judged moot courts before, but always with law students and always in a mock appellate situation.

The participants in this competition were college students from all over the country, and it was a mock trial.

Prior to the trials, the judges (scores of them) assembled in an auditorium in one of the buildings at Yale, where we were given a brief training session, after which we were paired off with another judge. I was assigned to a guy named Fournier, and I vaguely wondered whether it could possibly be Steve Fournier, a friend of mine from Hartford who I hadn't seen in 30 years.

It was, though I confess I didn't recognize him at first. He had the advantage of me, because, not only have I not changed a bit, but the odds of a lawyer named Wirzbicki being me, at least in this state, are 100%.

Both Steve and I are distinguished graduates of the finest high school in the country (Hartford Public High School). We are both failed politicians. Steve was on the Hartford Board of Education for a year before calling it quits in disgust, and I have held and lost every elected office in Groton. We have something else in common, it turns out. You can check out Steve's ramblings at Current Invective, his website.

It was lucky for me I got paired with Steve, because he had judged these competitions before. I let him preside, so all I had to do was sit there and try to competently judge the competitors.
Posted: Saturday - December 02, 2006 at 05:18 PM          

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