Meet Marcela Lopez García and Paul Herrera: Former Participants of ABA ROLI's Mexico Competitions-turned Staffers

As staff members in ABA ROLI’s Mexico Office,  Marcela Lopez García and Paul Herrera worked on the ADR and Mock Trial Competitions, including the VII National Competition on Oral Litigation.

Since 2013, ABA ROLI has supported Mexico’s transition from an inquisitorial, written-based system to an accusatorial system through our program, New Advocates for Mexican Justice. To assist the country’s transition, ABA ROLI works with Mexican law schools to prepare the next generation of Mexican attorneys for practice in the accusatorial trial context. To further the capacity of the students and faculty in Mexico’s law schools, ABA ROLI collaborates with the institutions to develop the student’s litigation, mediation, and restorative justice skills. The partnership also involves tailoring instructors’ legal education teaching methods to mirror the accusatorial trial system. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Since the project’s inception, ABA ROLI has reached more than 6,000 law students representing all thirty-two Mexican states, 935 law school professors, and 237 law schools through technical skills training sessions and the administration of nationwide mock trial and mediation competitions. These 6,000 law students include Marcela Lopez García and Paul Herrera, who both participated in past ABA ROLI Mock Trial Competitions and later joined ABA ROLI’s Mexico field office as staffers. Read their stories below!

Marcela Lopez García

Marcela recently served as a Senior Litigation Program Officer with ABA ROLI’s Mexico office, primarily focusing on the litigation component of the New Lawyers for the Justice System in Mexico program implemented by ABA ROLI. From 2019 to 2021, Marcela directed and coordinated courses and workshops on oral litigation techniques and designed the criminal investigation course. Additionally, she coordinated all phases of the oral litigations competition, and organized and convened the National Alliance for National Oral Litigation Competitions. In the wake of the pandemic, Marcela adjusted the training programs and activities to an online format, facilitating access and ongoing training for law students and professors. Marcela’s impressive trajectory is an example of the impact of ABA ROLI’s programs for activity participants and winners in their career pursuits.

Marcela holds the trophy for her winning team from the Jurist College in Morelos for
ABA ROLI’s 3rd Annual National Mock Trial Competition in 2016.

Marcela was the captain representing the winning team from the Jurist College in Morelos for the 3rd Annual National Mock Trial Competition in 2016 which was coached by Javier Carrasco. The final took place in Mexico City and the National Institute of Criminal Sciences, where Marcela’s team “Aguilas,” beat the Regional University of the North of Chihuahua for the first place. Teams are generally composed of four law students: two representing the prosecution and two representing the defense; Marcela's team, however, was composed of three law students and Marcela represented both the prosecution and defense of her team throughout the competition. Marcela was also recognized for her individual performance in the competition earning the Award for the “Best Argument on Precautionary Measures”, Award for the “Best Argument for the Exclusion of Unlawful Evidence”, Award for the “Best Direct Examination”, Award for the “Best Cross-examination” and two Awards for the “Best Closing Argument”.

Following her success in the Mock Trial competition, Marcela graduated at the top of her class from the Jurist College in Cuernavaca Morelos where she also received honors for her thesis on “Elimination of Unofficial Pretrial Detention.” During her undergraduate degree she participated in oral litigation competitions organized by ABA ROLI Mexico and California Western School of Law. After graduating she worked as a consultant and litigator in criminal and commercial matters in law firms in the state of Morelos. During the first few years of her career, she designed training programs for state prosecutors' offices and was an instructor for local public defenders' offices where she also provided technical assistance to public defenders during hearings. She was a consultant for ABA ROLI Mexico in litigation courses, litigation friendly competitions, and advanced workshops on litigation techniques and participated as an evaluator of the national litigation competitions. Marcela also was the presiding judge of the national final of ABA ROLI’s V National Oral Litigation Competition in Mexico.

Stemming from her participation in the ABA ROLI Mock Trial Competition, Marcela won a fully funded scholarship for an LLM in Litigation Techniques, where she graduated Cum Laude and won the prize for the best closing argument for defense. ABA ROLI Mexico is lucky to have had Marcela as part of their team!

Paul Herrera

Paul currently serves as a senior program officer with ABA ROLI’s Mexico office, primarily focusing on the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms component of the New Lawyers for the Justice System in Mexico program implemented by ABA ROLI Mexico. Paul joined the ABA ROLI Mexico team in 2019, where he has since helped transform the program’s National Mediation Competition to the National Competition of Mediation and Restorative Justice by incorporating the theme of Restorative Justice to the education and training of future facilitators in Mexico. Currently, Paul continues to innovate and improve with the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Mechanisms program, moving this edition of the Competition to a full ADR Competition to include evaluating mediation, conciliation and restorative elements. These updates will have a positive impact on the Alternative Criminal Justice centers throughout the country, since the students who participate in our activities will receive an integral and complete training on all the alternative mechanisms that a criminal facilitator in Mexico must perform. Paul’s trajectory is an example of the impact of ABA ROLI’s programs for activity participants and winners in their career pursuits.

First photo: Second place at the regional level in Monterrey, Nuevo León, 2016;
Second Photo: Second place at the national level in Mexico City, 2016.

Paul began participating in ABA ROLI Mexico’s programs in 2016, when he participated in the 3rd Annual National Oral Litigation Competition. As part of his participation, he won second place at the regional level and went on to win second place at the national competition. As a reward for the second place, Paul won a month-long internship in Mexico City, where he had the opportunity to receive training as a Trainer of Trainers and teach his first course to university studies as part of ABA ROLI Mexico’s programs. As a law student, Paul began teaching courses in Oral Litigation Techniques in public and private universities in the State of Chihuahua — using knowledge and skills he received from the training from ABA ROLI. He also did his legal professional fellowship in the Criminal Defense Office of Oral Trial of the Morelos Judicial District of the state of Chihuahua.

First photo: Fifth place at the national level for the 4th Annual National Oral Litigation Competition in Mexico City, 2017;
Second Photo: First place at the national level for the 2nd Annual National Mediation Competition in Mexico City, 2017.

In 2017, Paul continued to be involved in the activities of ABA ROLI Mexico, participating in the 4th Annual National Oral Litigation Competition, where he obtained the first regional place and the fifth national place. In that same year, Paul participated in the 2nd Annual National Mediation Competition where he obtained the second regional place and the first national place. As a prize for obtaining first place nationally, Paul won a study trip to the cities of San Francisco and Washington DC, where he learned how Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms work in the American Legal System and the difference in its application with the Mexican justice system.

Paul graduated from the Universidad Regional del Norte Law School, where months later, he was hired as a professor there to teach Oral Litigation Techniques, Criminal Procedure I and Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms. The professional profile that Paul built as a participant in ABA ROLI’s competitions, as well as the professional experience he acquired in his time at the Collegiate Court in Criminal Matters of the Seventeenth Circuit of the Federal Judicial Branch and at the Criminal Defense Office of Oral Trial of the Judicial Branch of the State of Chihuahua allowed him to be placed in a law firm specialized in Criminal Matters— where Paul began to conduct criminal hearings and apply his knowledge in oral litigation techniques. He combined his work at the law firm with university professorships at the Universidad Regional del Norte, the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, and the Centro Cultural Universitario.

A class of students pose during the final exam for their Oral Litigation Techniques Class that Paul (top row, right) taught in 2017.

Paul also advised the Oral Litigation and Mediation teams participating in ABA ROLI’s National Competitions in Mexico. He helped create clinics and litigation and mediation teams at the universities where he worked. He later participated as an evaluator in the 5th and 6th Annual National Oral Litigation Competitions.

Paul and Marcela with the law student team from UNAM for the Oral Litigation Competition in Mexico City, 2018.

Paul, far right, as an evaluator during the final round of the Fifth Annual National Oral Litigation Competition in Mexico City, 2018.

Learn more about our work in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Learn more about our Mexico office and programs on their Facebook Page, Nuevos Abogados para el Sistema de Justicia en México- ABA ROLI México (@nvosabogadosmx).