Samford University, Cumberland School of Law Wins Loyola Law School, Los Angeles’ 12th-Annual National Civil Trial Competition

Samford University, Cumberland School of Law was announced as the champion of Loyola Law School, Los Angeles’ 12th-Annual National Civil Trial Competition (NCTC) on Sunday, November 10, 2013 at an awards banquet held at the Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica, California. The winning members of the Samford University, Cumberland School of Law team included Alex McFall, Blake Milner, Jackson Neal, Genevieve Turner and Jim Roberts as their coach. The “Best Advocate/Final Rounds” award went to Greg Hayes from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and the “Best Advocate/Preliminary Rounds” award went to Lavell Payne from University of Akron School of Law, and Charlie Ginn from Baylor Law School.

The tournament was started in 2002 by Loyola Law School Prof. Susan Poehls (www.lls.edu) and has been sponsored by the Santa Monica, California law firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP (www.greene-broillet.com) since its inception.

The National Civil Trial Competition is an invitation only tournament. The competition focuses on bringing the top trial training law schools from around the country together to train students in the art of trial practice. Each law school that participated in the competition sent a team of four students currently enrolled in the law school’s J.D. program. Each team participated in a civil lawsuit trial that consisted of opening statements, direct and cross examination of two witnesses per side and closing arguments. The civil lawsuit being tried was based on a sexual harassment and hostile work environment case where an employee voluntarily terminated employment due to emotional stress after making complaints of sexual harassment and gender discrimination to upper management, and changes were not made to protect the employee.

“Watching 64 students from the top law schools in the country litigate a trial representing the plaintiff, and then the defense, is so much fun,” Said Prof. Susan Poehls. “It gives the students the opportunity to try out both sides, and determine what type of litigator they want to be. I am so pleased that the competition has been a success for 12 years and is one of the top-tier law school trial competitions in the United States. Thank you to all who have supported us.”

“Another year, another great competition,” stated Timothy J. Wheeler, managing partner of Greene Broillet & Wheeler and a member of Loyola Law School’s Class of 1978. “Professor Poehls and the competing students continue to amaze. We are very happy to support such a great tournament.”

The three-day competition began on November 8, 2013 with the first elimination round at the Santa Monica Courthouse. On November 10, 2013 the semi-final and final rounds were argued on Loyola’s downtown Los Angeles campus in its Girardi Advocacy Center. The four law schools in contention for the championship were: Pepperdine University School of Law; Samford University, Cumberland School of Law; University of Akron School of Law; and University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. Samford University, Cumberland School of Law beat University of Akron School of Law in the semi-finals to advance to the finals, and University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law beat Pepperdine University School of Law to also advance to the finals.

More than 100 members of the greater Los Angeles legal community volunteered as tournament judges. The “Final Rounds” of the National Civil Trial Competition were presided over by Judge Jay Gandhi U.S. District Court, Central District of California. Also judging these rounds were Greene Broillet & Wheeler’s Browne Greene and Christine Spagnoli, the Loyola alumna who was recently honored by Loyola’s Civil Justice Program as a Champion of Justice; Thomas Girardi with Girardi & Keese; Kevin Mokhtari with O’Melveny & Myers, LLP; and Susan Yu with Mesereau & Yu, LLP. The “Semi-Final Rounds” were presided over by Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell, U.S. Disctrict Court, Central District of California. Also judging these rounds were Alan Van Gelder and Geoffrey Wells with Greene Broillet & Wheeler; Carl Douglas with The Douglas Law Group; Christa Haggai with The Haggai Law Firm; John O’Malley with Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP; Daniel Robinson with Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis, Inc; Amy Solomon with Girardi & Keese; and Jane Usher.

The 16 law schools competing this year included: Baylor Law School; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Duquesne University School of Law; Earle Mack School of Law, Drexel University; Loyola University of Chicago School of Law; University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law; Pepperdine University School of Law; Samford University, Cumberland School of Law; Southwestern Law School; St. Mary’s University School of Law; Stetson University of College of Law; Suffolk University Law School; Syracuse University College of Law; University of Akron School of Law; University of California, Berkeley School of Law; and Washington University School of Law, St. Louis.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NCTC PROGRAM

Brian Costello
Assistant Director of Marketing & Communications
Loyola Law School (www.lls.edu)
Tel: 213-736-1444
Email: brian.costello@lls.edu

EDITOR’S NOTE: Photographs are available upon request.