Students take first, second place in trial competition
By KELLY HAGER
News Writer
After three days of competition, The Notre Dame Law School trial teams were crowned national champions and second place finalists at the 25th Annual National Trial Competition (NTC) March 30 through April 1.
Sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and The Texas Yong Lawyer's Association, the competition was held in Dallas, Texas. From the 280 teams that originally entered the competition at the regional level, only 24 emerged to compete at nationals. To be eligible to compete at the national level, teams first must win first or second place at regional level competitions. Finishing first and second place at regionals, both the Blue Team and the Gold Team advanced. Notre Dame has not progressed to the national level since 1993.
For competition at nationals, the Barrister's were given a fictitious case — Old Trustworthy Insurance Company v. Gordon Tower — and four weeks to prepare. During the four weeks, the teams practiced an average of 10 to 15 hours a week.
Progressing through quarterfinals and semifinals leading to their final victory, the championship team faced and defeated Georgetown, Hofstra, Howard, Stetson and two-year reigning national champion Temple. The second place national finalists faced and defeated Western New England, Maine, Houston, Syracuse and University of Washington on their way to the final round.
As top seeds in each of their competition brackets, Notre Dame's Blue and Gold teams found themselves in an awkward position — they had to compete against each other. Although they had practiced together, this was the first time the two teams faced each other in competition.
"We joked about it at regionals but never thought it would happen," said Tamara Walker, Blue Team captain and president of the Black Law Association. "We were not prepared for it to happen."
Only one other school in the history of the NTC has had teams that won both first and second placed in the competition.
"It was unreal — all our practice and hard work had paid off," Walker said. "No matter the outcome we couldn't have succeeded without the support of the rest of the team."
Next October, the national champion Notre Dame team will attend the annual meeting of the American College of Trial Lawyers in Washington, D.C. In addition to awards they have already received, team members will receive the Kraft W. Eidman Award consisting of a $5,000 gift and a silver bowl. Grissom will also be awarded the prestigious Spiegelberg Award, given to the Best Advocate in the final round of competition.
The Blue Team was comprised of Shazzie Naseem, president of the Student Bar Association. Walker, Ryan Redmon, and Kelly Murphy, were named national champions. Their teammates, the Gold Team, included Stone Grissom, Scott Kellogg, Steven Practico and Matt Woleski.
All News Stories for Monday, May 1, 2000
