RALEIGH, N.C. – Rising third-year Campbell Law student Jacob Morse has been selected to participate in the prestigious Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition, June 1-5, in Waco, Texas. Morse is the third Campbell Law student advocate in four years to be chosen for the competition.
Prior to Morse, Andrew Shores (L ’13) and Kaitlin Rothecker (L ’15) both placed in the top four just weeks after graduating from Campbell Law.
A native of Mooresville, N.C., Morse is the recipient of the Leadership Scholar Award, one of Campbell Law’s three highly prestigious, full-tuition awards. He was also recently awarded the 2016 Anglin Law Leadership Award. Morse previously won the Best Closing Argument Award and Best Storytelling Award at Baylor Law’s 2015 Academy of the Advocate, as well as the Best Advocate Award at the 2015 Kilpatrick Townsend 1L Mock Trial Competition.
This past April Morse was a part of the student advocate trio that won Campbell Law’s second consecutive national championship at the South Texas Mock Trial Challenge. Morse’s classmate and South Texas teammate Casey Peaden will serve as his co-counsel in Waco.
In addition to his advocacy success, Morse is extremely active within the law school community. He has served as treasurer of the Campbell Law Student Bar Association and is involved in several other student groups. He has assisted the Campbell Law Pro Bono Council with its Wills & Advance Directives Project, served as a student representative to the Campbell Law Board of Advisors, and volunteered as a judge for the YMCA Youth in Government Mock Trial and the American Mock Trial Association regional competition.
Founded in 2010, the competition creates a challenging atmosphere for competitors. Unlike other mock trial competitions, participants do not receive the case file until they arrive in Waco – just 24 hours before the first round of trials begin.
Preparation includes reviewing depositions, records and photographs, and taking a trip to the actual places where events in the hypothetical case occurred. Shortly before each round, competitors are assigned a witness or witnesses who may be used at participants’ discretion during the round. The jurors for each round are distinguished trial lawyers and judges.
The National Top Gun Mock Trial Competition is limited to 16 law schools with a single student, instead of the usual two, representing each school. Baylor Law, as the organizing institution, does not field a team.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW:
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. The school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation’s top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation’s best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 3,800 alumni, including more than 3,000 who reside and work in North Carolina. In September 2009, Campbell Law relocated to a state-of-the-art building in downtown Raleigh. For more information, visit http://law.campbell.edu.
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK:
http://www.facebook.com/campbelllawschool
FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM:
http://www.instagram.com/campbell-law