UA School of Law Mock Trial Teams Continue Winning Tradition

Akron, Ohio, March 14, 2005 — University of Akron law students scored another victory in mock trial competitions with a first-place finish in the recent ATLA (Association of Trial Lawyers of America) Student Trial Advocacy Regional Competition. The win advances the team to the national competition to be held April 7-11 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Team members are (advocates) Adam Stacy, of Blacksburg, Va.; and Adrienne Stemen, of Cardington, Ohio; and (witnesses) Megan Frantz, of Mansfield, Ohio; and Scott Kolligian, of Norton, Ohio.

A second UA team was edged out in the semi-final round of the regional. Team members included (advocates) Roland De Monte of Dennison, Ohio; and Stephanie Adams of Cleveland, Ohio; and (witnesses) Aaron Howell of Canton, Ohio; and Michael Cody of Tuscaloosa, Ala.

UA trial team veterans Lawrence Sutter III ('89), a partner at the law firm of Sutter, O'Connell, Mannion & Farchione Co., Cleveland; and David Toepfer ('97), an assistant prosecuting attorney in Trumbull County, coach the teams. UA School of Law alumnus Kimberlee Kmetz ('94), of the Youngstown firm of Harshman & Bernard, was the regional tournament director.

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.

ATLA's Student Trial Advocacy Competition cases are always civil cases and tend to deal with products liability, personal injury or medical malpractice/negligence issues. Teams are judged on their skills in case preparation, opening statements, use of facts, the examination of lay and expert witnesses and closing arguments.

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.

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