Portage High School seniors experienced the legal system in action Thursday afternoon as they were visited by an all-female panel of judges from the Indiana Court of Appeals for the hearing of a live argument.
The government and economics students filled two-thirds of the auditorium as PHS alumna Judge Nancy Vaidik, Judge Melissa May, of Vandenburgh County, and Judge Elizabeth Tavitas of Lake County heard Wells V. State.
Appeals on Wheels began making the rounds informally in the 1980s. In 2001 the program was formalized and now visits high schools and colleges according to semester schedules from August to December and January to June.
Significant legalese and references to case law made for a challenging listen as lawyers for the defendant and the state took sides on whether officers conducted an illegal search of a home, but it was the opportunity to question the judges after court was out of session that had some students soaking up wisdom.
Most students paid attention as the state and the defense each argued for 20 minutes, but the longer the session went on the more lids lowered and heads lolled to the side. One section, in particular, got it from May when it checked out on audience etiquette and chattered over the judges.
“Hey! Shut up! Thank you!” she yelled. “If you’re talking, I can’t hear and that makes me annoyed and we don’t want me annoyed.”
After that correction, the line of students with questions was able to be heard. They wanted to know everything from the most interesting cases the judges had heard – May once went down in a coal mine for a case – to the most difficult – Vaidik heard the case of a father accused of shooting his 5-year-old son in the back.
“There’s some really bad things that happen,” she said.
The judges didn’t shy away from sharing with students the grind it took to get where they are or that life plans can have unexpected trajectories even for the most successful. Vaidik told the students how she put herself through law school by working at a Clark gas station and didn’t know how she’d get through when she gave birth to her twin daughters during Christmas break the second year of law school.
They also spoke of the pros and cons of working on the appeals court, which is made up of 15 judges divided into three-judge panels. “Three heads are better than one,” Tavitas said of the difference between their work and that of a typical bench judge.
But when they’re not together actively hearing a case the job can be very isolating, May shared, explaining that’s one reason they’re so involved in the community.
They also took the opportunity to bring up their newest colleague Porter County Superior Court Judge Mary DeBoer, who has just been promoted to their ranks and formally joins the Appeals Court in October. The Appeals Court, with DeBoer, will have eight male and seven female judges.
“When I went to PHS there were no female lawyers in town,” Vaidik said. “I had never seen a woman lawyer.”
“In fact, when we told my grandfather that I was going to go to law school he got kind of upset,” May added, “because I had ‘enough education for a girl.’”
Now that that’s no longer a thing the judges told the students they just need to focus on working hard and not letting a bump in the road such as a semester of bad grades or getting fired from a job stop their progress.
“It’s just studying and learning and researching and practicing,” DeBoer said. “You have to put the work in to get the results.”
As a case in point, they asked the young lawyers who had just argued before them how much time they had spent preparing. Defense attorney Alex Moseley said he had spent about 50 hours preparing to go before the panel. “It’s hard. Not a lot of sleep,” he admitted. “Each case is unique. When it comes to oral arguments these cases are more nerve-wracking.”
Steven Hosler, of the Indiana Attorney General’s Office, who argued on behalf of the state, said there’s a lot of memorizing what you’ll say – and then not getting enough time to say it. Still, most of the students watching seemed to appreciate their efforts.
“It was pretty cool,” said Michael Wellman, one of a line of boys in the front row who wore dress shirts and ties for the occasion. “I’ve never been to a court like this.”
“I really like seeing lawsuits in action,” added Josiah Alexander. “I feel like it’s good for everybody here.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
