LOS ANGELES, CA – A four-member
team from the University of Florida College of Law won the
National Civil Trial Team Competition held here last weekend
(Nov. 14-16), beating competitors from 13 other American
Bar Association accredited law schools from throughout the
United States.
Second- and third-year UF law students
Desiree Demonbreun, Kenneth Grace, Stacey Gross and J. Phillip
Warren took top honors, besting Syracuse University representatives
in the finals. Teams from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles,
and Campbell University in North Carolina were the other
two semi-finalists.
“We’re extremely pleased
these men and women represented UF in such an outstanding
manner,” said law school Dean Jon Mills. “These
type national events help us measure the quality of our
efforts, and clearly the trial program is very effective.”
The UF team prior to beating Syracuse
topped teams from Cumberland School of Law, Temple University
and Campbell. Other teams competing included those from
the universities of Alabama, Georgetown, Houston, Pepperdine
and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
Each team argued a hypothetical
wrongful termination case based on Federal Rules of Evidence,
and judges were drawn from the local legal community and
U.S. Superior and District Courts. The UF team was coached
by Gainesville area attorneys Karin Moore, sole practitioner,
and Jennifer Zedalis, who this week joined the law school
faculty as a legal skills professor and director of the
trial
practice training program.
Zedalis noted the championship
was “truly a team effort, since in addition to the
four advocates who competed in the courtroom trials, four
other law students assisted with the research necessary
to prepare for the case – Tameika Pottinger, Catherine
Chien, Paul McDermott and Della Jensen.”
Earlier in the fall, other units
of the UF Trial Team competed in the Tournament of Champions
in Austin, Texas; the National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers competition in Chicago, Ill.; and the National Trial
Advocacy Competition at Michigan State University.
Mills noted funding for the Trial
Team and its competitions – held each school term
on state, regional and national levels – is provided
by alumni, friends and law firms. Major sponsors of the
UF unit include Coker Myers Schickel Sorenson Higginbotham
& Green of Jacksonville; S. William Fuller Jr., Tallahassee;
the Ronnie H. Walker Trial Team Scholarship; and Rumberger
Kirk & Caldwell of Orlando.
NOTE:
Electronic transmission of national champion team/coaches
photograph available. Please call 352.392.9586.
