Emory Mock Trial Society Wins National Tournament Championship

Lindsay Jones
Associate Director
Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution
Emory School of Law

Please join me in congratulating the Emory Mock Trial Society on winning the William W. Daniel National Invitational Mock Trial Competition on Sunday, Nov. 20. Eighteen law schools were invited to participate in the competition. This is the second consecutive year that the Emory Mock Trial Society has won this national tournament championship and the second national tournament championship in the law school’s history.

The Emory competition team consisted of Hannah Bakken (3L), James Thomas (3L), Rachel Belcher (2L), and Drew Healy (2L). The team was coached by Annie Deets (Vanderbilt Alum) of the DeKalb County Public Defenders Office, Steve Grimberg (Emory Alum) of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Matt McCoyd (Emory Alum) of the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office. All three coaches serve annually as trial skills instructors for the Kessler-Edison Program for Trial Techniques. The coaches also participated in a fall mini Trial Techniques Program to prepare the second-year mock trial team members who have not yet taken the full Trial Techniques Program.

The team competed in and won four preliminary rounds of simulated jury trials to advance to the final championship round. On the way to the championship round, the Emory team bested the University of Denver’s Strum College of Law, St. Mary’s University School of Law, Faulkner University’s Thomas Goode School of Law, and the University of Georgia School of Law. The Emory team met and defeated Southern Texas University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law in the final championship round.

The Emory Mock Trial Society won two regional championships earlier this fall, in Puerto Rico and Miami. This resulted in the society receiving two additional guaranteed national tournament championship bids: the 22nd National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition, sponsored by the ABA Criminal Justice Section and the John Marshall Law School, which will be held in Chicago, March 29-31, and the nationals for the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law Student Trial Advocacy Competition, which will held in Miami, Jan. 28-29.