National Student Trial Advocacy Competition

The Stetson Law School has taken home its fourth championship in the American Association for Justice (AAJ) National Student Trial Advocacy Competition.

The National Student Trial Advocacy Competition is "one of the two premier trial competitions in the nation," according to Charles Rose, an Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Excellence in Advocacy. The competition allows law students to practice their advocacy skills in mock trials before members of the bar and bench.

The competition is open to law schools nationwide and each law school may enter up to two teams with each team consisting of four law students. In order to be eligible, students must be enrolled for a jurist doctorate and be a student member of the AAJ.

The competition, which has been running for more than 25 years, is judged by registered attorneys and judges. The teams are judged based on their skills in case preparation, opening statements, use of facts, the examination of lay and expert witnesses and closing arguments. The competition is not invitational and in order to reach and claim the championship, the Stetson Law team had to outlast 247 other squads from 147 law schools including Stetson.

The Stetson squad consisted of Nelson Baex, Derrick Connell, Sara Mieczkowski and Aaron Watson. Since receiving the tournament case file in January, the team has been practicing nearly every day for the competition through continuous case analysis, research, and intensive practice. This team moved onto the national final after winning a regional tournament in Providence, R.I. about six weeks ago and competed in the finals in West Palm Beach from April 2 to the fifth.

The Stetson University College of Law is Florida's first law school and has educated lawyers for more than a century. According to an US News specialty ranking, the trial advocacy program at Stetson Law School is ranked first in the country and its legal writing program is ranked sixth.

Rose, who has had almost all of the competition squad in his classes at one time or another, says of the victory, "It is a combination of the commitment to excellence that all students on the trial team bring to the table, the long history of excellence that Stetson has in the field of advocacy, and the incredible level of instruction provided by our nationally recognized experts in teaching advocacy.  Professor Lee Coppock, Professor Roberta Flowers, Judge David Demers and Susan Demers were all instrumental in bringing out the best in each advocate."

As the winning team, the Stetson Law advocacy trial squad and their coach will receive free airfare, hotel accommodations and registration to the 2009 AAJ Annual Convention in San Francisco from July 25 to the twenty-ninth. Hardcore.