Hunton & Williams LLP Hosts Pen Pal Program

LOS ANGELES — May 23, 2011 — The Los Angeles office of law firm Hunton & Williams LLP is playing host on Tuesday, May 24, to a class of 30 students from Madison Elementary School in South Gate, Calif., with a mock trial based on the tale, "The Case of the Missing Lunch," involving the disappearance of a fifth-grader's lunch from her lunch box, leaving only a banana peel and a few crumbs.

Los Angeles Managing Partner Anne Marie Mortimer will act as judge with partner Tim Toohey and associate Christiane Roussell serving as defense attorney and plaintiff’s attorneys. Partner Roland Juarez plays defendant, Diego Diaz, and associate Emily Aldrich acts the part of plaintiff, Maria Hernandez. The Madison Elementary students will sit as jurors in the case.

Since the start of the school year last September, Hunton & Williams attorneys and staff have been pen pals with Kimberly Klopfer's 5th grade class at the Los Angeles Unified School District K-5 School. The student population at Madison Elementary is 99 percent Latino, and 49 percent of the students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

The pen pal correspondence culminates on Tuesday with a field trip and pizza party at the Hunton & Williams office in downtown Los Angeles. The students will have an opportunity to meet with their pen pals and serve as jurors in the mock trial.

"This is an important part of experiential learning," said Ms. Klopfer. "They are learning persuasive writing skills this year so the mock trial experience fits right into the curriculum."

Hunton & Williams attorneys and staff are committed to the program, now in its fourth year. "We are delighted to continue the program with Madison Elementary this year," said Tim Toohey, a partner at Hunton & Williams in Los Angeles. "It acquaints the students with the legal process and professional life and is rewarding for all concerned."

The students have been very enthusiastic about the program, enclosing pictures in their letters and inviting their pen pals to visit their classroom, where they participated in several wide-ranging question and answer sessions.

"We like this program because it allows us to give back to the community, where there is a real need," said Toohey.

About Hunton & Williams LLP

Hunton & Williams LLP provides legal services to corporations, financial institutions, governments and individuals, as well as to a broad array of other entities. Since our establishment more than a century ago, Hunton & Williams has grown to more than 900 lawyers serving clients in 100 countries from 18 offices around the world. While our practice has a strong industry focus on energy, financial services and life sciences, the depth and breadth of our experience extends to more than 100 separate practice areas, including bankruptcy and creditors rights, commercial litigation, corporate transactions and securities law, intellectual property, international and government relations, regulatory law, products liability, and privacy and information management.