UA Law Students Win National Trial Competition

Akron, Ohio April 1, 2004 — A team of student lawyers from The University of Akron School of Law recently defeated teams from law schools across the nation to win the Association of Trial Lawyers of America National Tournament.

In competition in West Palm Beach, Fla., UA School of Law students Stuart Baker and Jessica Morrison, acting as advocates, and Michelle Holiday and Ron Johnson, acting as witnesses, swept through three preliminary trials, winning over teams from the University of Denver, Samford University's Cumberland School of Law (Birmingham, Ala.) and Fordham University (New York City). The University of Denver team won the competition last year.

The UA law students then defeated a team from Harvard University Law School (Cambridge, Mass.) to reach the semifinal rounds, and defeated teams from Baylor University Law School (Waco, Texas) and Drake University Law School (Des Moines, Iowa) to take the competition.

“Once again, our students are proving the quality of the education they receive at our School of Law,” Dean Richard Aynes says. UA student trial teams have won two national and four multistate regional trial competitions this year. Over the past 20 years, UA trial teams have won 42 multistate, regional tournaments.

Trial competitions pit teams of students against others in trying cases as the plaintiff or defendant. The cases are drawn from reality. Judges in the competitions base their decisions on how students try the case put before them.

For law schools, winning the Association of Trial Lawyers of America National Tournament is parallel to winning the annual NCAA basketball tournament.

The UA School of Law's success at the Association of Trial Lawyers of America National Tournament is just one facet of the success demonstrated by the school's students.

The School of Law's programs in intellectual property, business and tax law have put UA law alumni in demand for high-profile corporate and government positions, and UA law alumni have been selected as judges for many local, state and federal courts.

National Jurist and PreLaw Insider magazines recently ranked UA's School of Law one of the best values of any juris doctor program in the United States, based on tuition, bar pass rate, faculty-student ratio and other factors. The UA School of Law has a strong program for the concentrated study of intellectual property and technology, devoting more full-time faculty to the area and offering more courses than any law school in a six-state region. The School of Law offers joint degrees in business, taxation, public administration and human resource management, as well as certificate programs in litigation and intellectual property.

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