UA Law Students Take Top Honors in Advocacy Competition

Akron, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2005 — Two University of Akron School of Law students took top spots at the Landskroner Closing Argument Competition recently held in Cleveland.

Competition winners are:

First Place and a $750 scholarship — Andy Cipriani of Smithers, W.Va.

Second Place and a $500 scholarship — Elisabeth Batchelder Akers of Medina.

The Landskroner Foundation for Children, Cleveland, sponsors the competition. Students from all Ohio law schools are invited to compete by submitting an essay about why they want to become a civil trial attorney. Twelve finalists are then selected to deliver a 15-minute closing argument in a civil case before a panel of judges and civil trial attorneys.

This marks the third consecutive year that University of Akron law students have garnered first and second place in the competition. In addition, seven of the 12 finalists of this year's competition were University of Akron law students.

“We are very pleased that our students did so well at this event,” says Richard Aynes, dean of UA's School of Law. “They obviously worked very hard to prepare both their initial essays and their closing arguments.”

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, employment rate, median grants, clinic slots and student-faculty ratio.

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