Nov. 16, 2013

Law students gather in LA for national trial competition

Loyola Law School held its 12th annual National Civil Trial Competition last week at the school's downtown Los Angeles campus and the Santa Monica Courthouse. The competition, held Nov. 8-10, brought 16 top trial training law schools across the nation to sharpen their trial practice skills. The team from Alabama-based Cumberland School of Law at Samford University prevailed in the competition, which was judged by members of the Los Angeles bar and bench. Semifinal judges were Geoffrey S. Wells of Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP, Alan Van Gelder of Greene Broillet & Wheeler, Amy Fisch Solomon of Girardi Keese, former Special Assistant City Attorney Jane Usher, Carl E. Douglas of The Douglas Firm, U.S. District Judge Beverly O'Connell, Christa R. Haggai of The Haggai Law Firm, John A. O'Malley of Norton Rose Fulbright and Daniel S. Robinson of Robinson Calcagnie Robinson Shapiro Davis Inc. Final round judges were Susan C. Yu of Mesereau & Yu LLP, Thomas V. Girardi of Girardi Keese, U.S. Magistrate Judge Jay C. Gandhi, Browne Greene of Greene Broillet & Wheeler, Kevin Mokhtari of O'Melveny & Myers LLP and Christine Spagnoli of Greene Broillet & Wheeler. The invitation-only tournament brought teams of four law students each to participate in a civil trial comprising opening statements, direct and cross-examination of two witnesses per side, and closing arguments. The mock lawsuit involved a sexual harassment and hostile work environment case brought by an employee who voluntarily left the job after making complaints to upper management and feeling changes were not made to protect the employee. — Katie Lucia