Four members of the Trial Team won the uber-prestigious Tournament of Champions sponsored by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, on Oct. 23.
3L Rachel Holt and 2L Philip Pasquarello were the team’s advocates, joined by 2Ls Brittany Green and Rachel Greenberg, who served as witnesses.
Pasquarello was named Best Advocate in the Final Round.
The team was coached by ’14 alumna Abbie Heller, Professor Jared Rosenblatt, associate director of the Trial Advocacy program, and Professor Gwen Roseman Stern, director of the Trial Advocacy program.
Among the most prestigious competitions in the U.S., the Tournament of Champions invites the nation’s 16 teams with the strongest track records in trial advocacy to take part. The other schools invited this year were: Yale Law School, Syracuse University College of Law, Wake Forest University School of Law, Baylor Law School, University of Akron School of Law, Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago Kent College of Law, Washington University College of Law, Loyola Law School (Los Angeles), University of Colorado School of Law, Stetson University College of Law, Samford University Cumberland School of Law, Loyola University Chicago School of Law, California Western School of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and Harvard University School of Law.
A second Trial Team advanced to the semi-finals in the Golden Gate University “In Vino Veritas” Competition on Oct. 23. 3Ls Zack Yurick, Greg Kiss, 2L Jenna Mathias and 3L Mike Pajak were among the Final Four teams in the competition, which is sponsored by the American Bar Association Litigation Section. The team was coached by attorney Tracie Palmer of Kline & Specter and Nellie Fitzpatrick, director of the Office of LGBT Affairs in the Office of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.
“This is an extraordinary achievement,” Stern said. “We know how hard our students work, and so it’s deeply satisfying to receive an affirmation of their skill at this level of competition.”
The result of the Tournament of Champions competition guarantees that the Kline School of Law will be invited for a second consecutive year to take part in the Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition at Baylor Law School. The Kline School of Law will also host the TOC in 2018.