Stephen S. Weinstein Trial Advocacy Program

SPRING 2020 NEWSLETTER

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4TH BEST TRIAL ADVOCACY PROGRAM

The Trial Advocacy Program is proud to announce that it is RANKED #4 in the 2021 U.S. News & World Report’s Trial Advocacy Program rankings.

Our program continues to illustrate that we are a trial advocacy powerhouse! This could not be possible without our amazing adjunct faculty, consistent coaching staff, spectacular student competition team members, and the steadfast work of our staff.

Read more about our ranking here .

A+ PRE-LAW MAGAZINE RANKING

In January 2020, the Trial Advocacy Program received a grade of A+ by preLaw Magazine , a National Jurist publication (Winter 2020, Vol. 23, No. 3)! We received an A+ grade based upon the breadth of our course offerings during the 2018-2019 academic year.

We would to thank our dedicated staff, adjunct faculty, and coaches for ensuring that we continue in our efforts to prepare and support every future legal advocate that takes one of our amazing trial advocacy courses and/or participates on one of our incomparable student competition teams. Read more about our A+ grade here .

HOSTED EVENTS & PROGRAMS

On January 28th, our beloved benefactor Stephen “Skippy” S. Weinstein visited AUWCL for his ANNUAL LECTURE & RECEPTION . Skippy spent the entire day with the Trial Advocacy Program.

First, Skippy had a leadership luncheon with the Joint Honor Societies Leadership Board. Next, Skippy co-taught and inspired the students in Professor Elizabeth Lippy’s Evidentiary Foundations & Objections course. Later, Skippy addressed a crowd of students, faculty, staff and dear friends during his annual lecture in the Weinstein Courtroom. Read more here .

February 7-9, 2020, the Trial Advocacy Program hosted NATIONAL TRIAL COMPETITION for Region IV ! This competition was co-hosted by th e American College of Trial Lawyers .

22 mock trial teams representing 12 law schools from DC, MD, VA, and DE competed and more than 75 judges and legal practitioners evaluated this prestigious competition.

In the final rounds, Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law (K1) and Howard University School of Law (M1) advanced to the national competition.

F or the second year in a row, the Trial Advocacy Program and Moot Court Honor Society, in partnership with the International Law Students Association, hosted the Mid-Atlantic regional of the PHILIP C. JESSUP INTERNATIONAL LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION (February 21-23, 2020).

AUWCL hosted one of 69 worldwide regional competitions, 6 of which were held in the United States. We welcomed 17 moot court teams and more than 75 attorneys and judges who served as evaluators for the competition. Competitors also enjoyed a closing reception, sponsored by White & Case.

The Trial Advocacy Program, in collaboration with the Mock Trial Honor Society hosted the Twelfth Annual CAPITOL CITY CHALLENGE (CCC) (March 5-8, 2020).

26 teams from the top-ranked trial advocacy programs in the nation participated in this national mock trial competition. “More than 100 judges and legal practitioners evaluated rounds at this year’s CCC. Congratulations to our champion, UIC John Marshall Law School.

A special thank you to Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law who authored this year’s case file and our generous sponsors for their contributions.

Professor Aimee Ghosh (‘12) was awarded the Alumni Award at the 2020 MTHS HOMECOMING ! This event was co-sponsored by the Office of Development & Alumni Relations and held during the Capitol City Challenge Reception (March 7, 2020).

As an alumna, adjunct professor, and MTHS coach, Prof. Ghosh has coached MTHS students to numerous team and individual awards. Prof. Ghosh was honored by current students, coaches, and alumni. We are so happy to have her as part of our Trial Advocacy Program family.

The UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ARMED FORCES ("USCAAF") held a Meet & Greet with interested students on March 11.

USCAAF is the highest court in the military justice system and provided interested students with an amazing opportunity to meet JAG attorneys and military judges from all branches of the military.

For the second year in a row, this event was co-hosted by the the Trial Advocacy Program and the Office of Special Events and Continuing Legal Education.

Trial advocacy students interested in criminal law were invited to attend a Trial Advocacy Program-hosted lecture on criminal justice by renowned criminal defense attorney, Brendan Sullivan. Thank you to Major General John Ewers, adjunct professor, for facilitating this opportunity for our students.

LEADING THE RESPONSE TO COVID-19

The Trial Advocacy Program and our professors quickly embraced technology solutions to difficulties that arose in response to COVID-19. In order to ensure continuity in student learning and experience, adjunct faculty moved all trial advocacy courses online with leadership and guidance by Professors Lippy and Thomas, who continue to support faculty and students remotely.

The Program even held interactive final trials for all sections of criminal and civil trial advocacy courses online. In addition to having virtual courtrooms with trained technicians on Zoom, jurors were recruited and participated in these virtual trials. Students even had the opportunity to watch the jury deliberate.

Adjunct faculty and students alike declared the final trials a success and we are proud to have been the only trial advocacy program to have taken on such undertaking in response to the pandemic.

HONORING PROF. JOESPH V. KAPLAN

Professor Joseph V. Kaplan was a member of the Stephen S. Weinstein Trial Advocacy Program’s adjunct faculty since 2015. Known for his enthusiasm for his Lawyer Bargaining course and his students, his passing will be felt by students and peers alike. Prof. Kaplan was a great asset to the Trial Advocacy Program. In addition to teaching, he would often act a judge at hosted competitions.

Our hearts are broken and this is a loss that has impacted the Program in a major way. We send our sincerest condolences to Prof. Kaplan’s wife, daughters, and grandchildren. He will forever be in our hearts and a constant in our memories. Thank you, Joe!

THANK YOU RESEARCH FELLOWS

The Trial Advocacy Program could not be successful without the hard work and dedication of its Research Fellows! These students have weekly office hours, manage projects, and assist with hosted competitions and events. They are invaluable!

Thank you for your service - Adam Gould (3L), Austin Wallick (3L), Effie Acevedo Guasp (LLM) (spring ‘20), Erin Steiger (3L), Leon Stern (3L), Marianne Aguilar (3L), Rebekah Mudri (LLM) (summer, fall ‘19), and Zhuo Zhao (2L)!

PANELS & PRESENTATIONS

PROF. ELIZABETH LIPPY, Associate Director

Prof. Lippy spoke to more than 100 attendees about issues pertaining to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), as part of USCAAF’s two day 2020 Continuing Legal Education and Training Program on March 11 and 12, 2020.

Prof. Lippy co-authored a two article series with Sally Pretorius on Bloomberg Law focused on the need for remote advocacy in response to COVID-19. The first article, “ Attorneys Need ‘Tele-Advocacy’ Tools as Courts Adapt to Coronavirus ” was published on April 2nd with the second article, “ Tips for Honing ‘Tele-Advocacy’ Online Skills ” appearing on April 3rd.

Fordham University School of Law and UCLA School of Law hosted the NATIONAL ONLINE TRIAL ADVOCACY COMPETITION in April.

The competition featured 170 competitors in a remote competition. Of hundreds of legal practitioners participating in the competition as judges, Prof. Lippy was selected to judge the semi-final round.

On January 21, 2020, BGT participated in the 21st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration hosted by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Affinity Relations at AUWCL. At the commemoration, BGT read an excerpt from Dr. King’s annual report entitled "Where Do We Go From Here?" Read more here ..

PROF. BRITTANY GAIL THOMAS (BGT) ('12) ,

Assistant Director of

Student Competition Teams

On January 31, 2020, Prof. Thomas was quoted in an article entitled, "How TV crime shows erase racism and normalize police conduct." The article was posted on the TheGuardian.com and can be found here .

On March 31st, Prof. Thomas spoke at the Admitted Students Week Session 2—Trial Advocacy Program where she discussed the benefits of Trial Advocacy curriculum, faculty, and courses; as well as honor society teams. 41 admitted students watched the live session via Zoom.

Prof. Thomas was also a judge for the semi-final round of the NATIONAL ONLINE TRIAL ADVOCACY COMPETITION , created in response to COVID-19 cancellation of all student competitions. Prof. Thomas was honored to be selected to judge the semi-final round.

In response to COVID-19 and its affects on student morale, Prof. Thomas hosts weekly Zoom sessions entitled, "Morning Tea with BGT." These sessions offer students a safe space to connect and keep up morale during these difficult times.

STUDENT COMPETITION TEAMS UPDATE

Although the COVID-19 pandemic ended the spring competition season early, the 2019-2020 competition season still proved to be successful for the Trial Advocacy Program. In addition to our ranking as the 4th best trial advocacy program in the nation, AUWCL's competition teams achieved the following:

CHAMPIONSHIPS

FINALISTS

SEMI-FINALISTS

QUARTER-FINALISTS

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

CONGRATULATIONS to the Moot Court Honor Society (MCHS), Mock Trial Honor Society (MTHS), Alternative Dispute Resolution Honor Society (ADRHS), Transactional Law Society (TLS), and independent teams!

For the third year in a row, the MCHS is the CHAMPION of the Mid-Atlantic Regional for the PHILIP C. JESSUP INTERNATIONAL LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION !

The team consisted of Erin Downey (3L), Anthony Nardi (3L), Dimitar Georgiev (3L), and Stephanie Herrmann (2L) (coach Catherine Newcombe and desk counsel Ciara Beaulieu (3L)). Erin Downey received the Best Oralist Award.

The oral arguments for the international competition were cancelled. However teams were given awards for their memorials. The team from WCL received an award for the 14 ^th best memorial worldwide and had the best memorial of any team from the United States that advanced to the international rounds.

The MCHS is the regional CHAMPION of the 2020 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION’S NATIONAL APPELLATE ADVOCACY COMPETITION !

This team consisted of Robert Lackey (3L) and Jase Tilley (3L) (coached by Adrian Alvarez). Robert was also named the 8th Best Oralist!

The national competition to be held in Chicago, IL this past April was cancelled.

The MTHS is the CHAMPION of the 2020 NATIONAL TRIAL COMPETITION for Region III (Philadelphia, PA)!

Zhuo Zhao (2L), Austin Wallick (3L), and Rachel Saady-Saxe (3L) (coached by Professors Aimee Ghosh, Cristina Hillyer, and Elizabeth Lippy) beat Temple University Beasley School of Law in the final round.

The national competition to be held in Fort Worth, Texas was cancelled.

An independent team consisting of Veronica Faison (2L) and Rachel Mina (2L) (coached by Jacqueline Youm (‘16)) is the CHAMPION of the 2020 NATIONAL BLACK LAW STUDENTS NELSON MANDELA INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATIONS COMPETITION (March 4-7, 2020)!

Veronica Faison was also named the Best Negotiator.

JOINT HONOR SOCIETY LEADERSHIP BOARD

For the second year in a row, the President and Vice President of the MTHS, MCHS, ADRHS, and TLS participated in the Joint Honor Society Leadership Board. These student leaders also enjoyed having a safe space to bounce ideas of each other, to learn from each other’s successes and challenges as societies, to plan and organize events through a joint calendar, and to voice concerns about matters affecting the societies’ members and the success of each group.

The Board attributed its success to the motivated, professional, and collaborative nature of each individual on the Board, and to the guidance and unwavering support of Prof. Brittany Gail Thomas, the Assistant Director of Student Competition Teams.

Thank you for your service - Anthony Nardi (3L), MCHS President ; Catherine Perrone (3L), MTHS President ; Erin Steiger (3L), MTHS Vice-President ; Francesca Gross (3L), TLS President ; Kristen Bartolotta (2L evening), MCHS Vice-President ; Leemor Banai (3L), ADRHS Vice-President ; and Torrey Feldman (3L), ADRHS President !

MTHS TO COMPETE AT TOP GUN IV

MTHS has, once again, been invited to compete in the the TOP GUN NATIONAL MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION (hosted by Baylor University School of Law (Waco, TX))!

Representing MTHS and AUWCL as the solo advocate is AUSTIN WALLICK (3L). Austin has won multiple awards and has flipped/ tried both sided of the case in 3 of the 4 competitions he's competed in. Assisting Austin with technology during Top Gun, is Zhuo Zhao, (2L). Coaching this team is Prof. Lippy. Read more about these advocates here .