Jodi Ezrin: Moot Court Mania.

Jodi Ezrin has a passion for trial advocacy and at UM Law she has become a moot court fanatic. She is a member of the Moot Court Board and she was a member of several UM teams that have competed in national competitions. She has been to Santa Fe and Jacksonville for mock-trial competitions, and she just returned from the National Bankruptcy Appellate Competition in New York, where the UM team finished first out of 32 law schools and received the award for the best brief.

At UM Law, Jodi was also the treasurer of the Miami Law Women, vice president of the Cardozo Legal Society, an orientation advisor, a contributing writer for Res Ipsa Loquitur newspaper and a member of the Psychology, Public Policy, and Law Journal and the Public Interest Group.

Jodi came straight to UM Law from undergraduate school. Although Jodi was born in Miami, she moved around a lot when she was young. She studied at four different high schools in four years, ultimately graduating from a high school in San Francisco. She stayed in California to attend college at UCLA, where she majored in political science. In college she was a dedicated volunteer counselor for the UCLA Women's Center. Jodi spent two years at the center, routinely volunteering over thirty hours a week. During the fall semester of her junior year, Jodi was an intern for the Violence Against Women Office at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and the summer before starting law school, Jodi studied in Israel.

When it came time to apply to law schools, Jodi admits that initially Miami was her back-up school. "Miami was the only second-tier school that I applied to, but coming here turned out to be the best decision that I've ever made. It's not the cut throat environment that law schools are rumored to be. I've made more friends at UM than I made in undergrad and high school combined."

Jodi is the founder and chairman of the University of Miami Domestic Violence Awareness Project, which is designed to promote awareness of domestic violence and to educate the community on the legal remedies for domestic violence. While at Miami, Jodi also clerked for a small law office and interned with the State Attorney's Office. Last summer she was a summer associate with Anania, Bandklayder, Blackwell, Baumgarten, Torricella & Stein.

Currently in her third year of law school, Jodi is a legal intern with The Advocate Program, a non-profit organization. Her position entails two principal dimensions. Jodi gathers and analyzes statistics on domestic violence and sexual assault in Miami-Dade County and she plans training sessions for lawyers, police, and social workers on working with victims of domestic violence.

Jodi has accepted a job offer from Baker & Hostetler following graduation. She will be practicing bankruptcy and corporate law for the civil litigation firm in Orlando. In additional to the excitement surrounding her nascent legal career, Jodi has another good reason to be smiling so much. Over spring break, she accepted an eagerly awaited marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Matthew.