Back-To-Back Wins for UA School of Law Mock Trial Teams

Akron, Ohio, March 1, 2005 — For the second consecutive year, University of Akron law students placed first in the Gourley Invitational Trial Team tournament. UA's mock trial team defeated The University of Pittsburgh in the final round for the championship.

Sixteen law schools participated in the Feb. 17-18 tournament sponsored by the Academy of Trial Lawyers of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh.

UA team members include (advocates) Elisabeth Batchelder Akers of Medina and Claire Hurley of Mentor and (witness) Evan Llewellyn of Broadview Heights.

The team was coached by trial team alumnus J. Anthony Rich ('96), assistant prosecuting attorney for Marion County, Ohio; and Akron Municipal Court Judge Alison McCarty.

Mock trial competition provides opportunities for law students to develop and practice their trial advocacy skills before members of the bar and bench. Teams consist of law students taking on the roles of attorneys and witnesses in a criminal or civil legal issue.

Since 1982, UA School of Law mock trial teams have won two first-place and six second-place awards in national tournaments, and 44 regional tournaments.

In their latest rankings, “National Jurist” and “Prelaw Insider” magazines rated UA's School of Law as the second “best value” juris doctor public school program in the United States, based on tuition, bar passage rates, unemployment rate, median grants, clinic slots and faculty-student ratio.

Return...