Helen Andrews (3L) featured in "Federal Court Gives Students Chance to Parry With Judges" -- Associated Press

March 22, 2017 | By Kylie Larkin -- Pepperdine Law student Helen Andrews (3L) and Jeremy Rosen, director of the Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic, are featured in the Associated Press article, "Federal Court Gives Students Chance to Parry With Judges," which has been published in newspapers nationwide. Pepperdine School of Law's Ninth Circuit Appellate Advocacy Clinic has won 6 out of 8 appeals since the clinic was founded in 2013.

Excerpt from "Federal Court Gives Students Chance to Parry with Judges":

Arguing a case before a panel of federal appeals-court judges can be daunting even for experienced lawyers. Their clients often have much at stake, and the judges can be relentless, interrupting with questions to point out weaknesses and even occasionally to scold.

So Helen Andrews was understandably anxious when, as a third-year Pepperdine University law student, she stepped before three judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year in a case that could change the way inmates are monitored in an Arizona county.

"I felt like I couldn't breathe between sentences, I was gasping for air," Andrews, 27, recalled during a recent interview.

Andrews is among scores of students who have had the opportunity to argue at the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, under an unusual program started more than two decades ago that offers law schools the opportunity to take on appeals.

Video of Andrews's argument in the Ninth Circuit with Cory Batza (3L) can be found at www.ca9.uscourts.gov