Cumberland School of Law Wins the 2008 STAC Competition!

West Palm Beach, FL - A team from Cumberland School of Law beat out 13 other teams to take first place at AAJ’s 2008 Student Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC). In his 17th year coaching for STAC, Professor Michael V. Rasmussen led students Dillon Barker, Lisha Li, Julie McMakin, and Anna Smith to their win.

AAJ thanks Stacey Mullins from the firm of Lavalle Brown Ronan & Mullins based in Boca Raton FL, for hosting the 2008 STAC Finals. Please click here to view the standings of the top-placed teams. Congratulations to all the teams!

Left to right: Julie McMakin, Lisha Li, The Honorable Judge Ted Borras, Dillon Barker, Anna Smith, Michael V. Rasmussen

Click here to download a list of the 2008 Regional Winners

Click here to download the 2008 STAC Fact Pattern

Click here to download the 2008 STAC Fact Pattern Clarifications

What is the AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Competition?

One of AAJ's goals is to inspire excellence in trial advocacy through training and education for both law students and practicing attorneys. One way AAJ accomplishes this goal is by sponsoring the National Student Trial Advocacy Competition, an annual nationwide mock trial competition. This is an exceptional opportunity for law students to develop and practice their trial advocacy skills before distinguished members of the bar and bench.

The competition is open to law schools nationwide. Each law school may enter one or two teams, each team consisting of four law students. PLEASE NOTE that your second team will not be officially registered until one team from each law school has entered the mock trial competition. Then the second team will be registered on a first-come, first-served basis, until all the team slots are filled. Teams remaining after the competition is full will be put on a waiting list. A school's selection method of its trial team is left to the school to determine. However, for a student to be eligible, he or she must be enrolled for a J.D. degree and be a student member of AAJ. Students who graduate in December 2007 are eligible to participate only if the competition counts toward their credits for graduation and they will not be admitted to practice prior to March, 2008.

Sixteen (16) teams are assigned to fourteen (14) regions. Only the top team from each region will advance to the National Finals.

AAJ's mock trial cases are always civil cases and tend to deal with products liability, personal injury, or medical malpractice/negligence issues. Teams will be judged on their skills in case preparation, opening statements, use of facts, the examination of lay and expert witnesses, and closing arguments. There will be no written exercise.

For more information about the competition, contact Nathalie Etori in the AAJ Membership Department, at 800-424-2725, ext. 593, or 202-965-3500, ext. 593.