RALEIGH — Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced that Wyrick Robbins is financially sponsoring the law school’s 2019 Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition team on June 5-9 at Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas.
“Wyrick Robbins has financially paved the way for our advocates, and we are blessed to enjoy our relationship with them,” Dean Leonard said. “Their gift provides the opportunity for our newest alumni to learn, get competitive experience and show the rest of the country how our first-class advocacy program is molding the future leading attorneys of tomorrow. We are in debt to them for their generosity.”
The final round will be livestreamed at 2 p.m. (CST) on Sunday, June 9, at baylor.edu/law/live.
Tatiana Terry ’19, who has been selected to compete in the competition, distinguished herself during her time at Campbell Law — she was on the winning team in five advocacy tournaments. Earlier this year, Terry and her teammates won the regional and national championship at the National Black Law Student Association (NBLSA) Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial Competition. She and teammate Katie Webb also secured a regional and a national title at the American Bar Association (ABA) Client Counseling competition and then went on to win the Brown Mosten International Client Consultation Competition in Dublin, Ireland — all firsts for the law school.
Top Gun advocates are permitted to have one fellow advocate working as co-counsel through out the competition. This year, Hannah Wallace ’19 has been chosen to join Terry in the competition. Wallace is an outstanding advocate in her own right having finished as a member of the team of quarterfinalists at the South Texas Mock Trial Challenge in March.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Top Gun Competition and the fifth time Campbell Law has secured an invitation as one of the top advocacy law schools in the country, according to Professor Dan Tilly, director of the law school’s trial advocacy program. Campbell Law has finished in the final four twice — Drew Shores ’13 and Kaitlin Rothecker ’15 — and won the competition once — Jacob Morse ’17. Wake Forest University is the only other North Carolina law school represented in this year’s competition.
Top Gun is a head-to-head, winner-take-all competition among the best advocates from the 16 top trial advocacy schools across the nation. Unlike other mock trial competitions, participants do not receive case files until 24 hours before the first round of trials begin. The competition also boasts the use of advanced trial presentation software and a winner-take-all prize of $10,000.
The short amount of preparation given includes reviewing depositions, records, photographs and taking trips 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. Jurors for each round are distinguished trial lawyers and judges.
The National Top Gun Mock Trial Competition is limited to 16 law schools. Previously only a single student represented each school, however, the competition now allows for one additional student to serve as co-counsel. Baylor Law, as the organizing institution, does not field a team.
2019 TOP GUN NATIONAL MOCK TRIAL COMPETITION PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS
- American University Washington College of Law
- Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law
- Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law
- Fordham University School of Law
- Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
- Loyola University Chicago School of Law
- Pacific University McGeorge School of Law
- Samford University Cumberland School of Law
- Stetson University College of Law
- Syracuse University College of Law
- Temple University Beasley School of Law
- UCLA School of Law
- University of Akron School of Law
- University of California, Berkeley School of Law
- University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Law
- Wake Forest University School of Law
Wyrick Robbins is an entrepreneurial law firm with a focus on growth-oriented businesses that offers responsive, high-quality legal services that deliver practical and effective solutions for its clients.
ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW
Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion, and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, 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 4,200 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2019, Campbell Law will celebrate 40 years of graduating legal leaders and 10 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina’s Capital City.