Press Release

Washington, DC — The American Association for Justice (AAJ) applauds the Baylor University School of Law for winning the 2024 Student Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC). Baylor’s team members include Robert Holland, Duncan Robinson, Ameyali Sanchez, and Anderston Tittle.  In addition, Duncan Robinson was awarded this year’s “Best Advocate” in the National Finals.

“Every year, I look forward to serving as a judge and having the chance to see first-hand the talent of the next generation of lawyers. I continue to be impressed by the trial advocacy skills demonstrated by the students throughout the competition.”  said AAJ President Sean Domnick.

Last week, 20 teams representing law schools from around the country traveled to Chicago to compete in the STAC finals for the national title. After three qualifying rounds, eight teams moved to the quarterfinal round on Saturday afternoon. From there, four teams advanced to the semifinal round on Sunday morning, and the final two teams competed on Sunday afternoon. There, Baylor University School of Law competed against the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in the final round.

The semifinalists were teams from UCLA and Temple University. Quarterfinalists included teams from Cumberland, Cleveland State, Georgetown, and New York University.

For over 30 years, AAJ has hosted STAC to provide law students with an opportunity to develop and practice essential trial advocacy skills in front of distinguished members of the bar and bench. AAJ and its attorney members commit their time and talents to STAC to help both develop and judge the competition. The competition is open to all law schools nationwide.

In announcing the winners, AAJ thanks:

• The AAJ Law School Committee members who dedicated their time, effort, and support to ensure the competition was a success, including our regional coordinators for their tireless work in March: Aaron Freeman, Domenic Sanginiti, Megan Whiteside, Matthew Nace, Matthew Lee, Jacob Morse, Sara Williams, Kyle Ring, J. Ken Johnson, Karen Beyea-Schroeder, and Rachel Sykes.
• Robert Little at Baylor University School of Law and David Schott at the University of Denver Strum College of Law for lending their expertise to the national finals.
• AAJ members, lawyers, and sitting judges in Chicago who ensured a successful competition by volunteering their time and expertise to help judge the competition, especially Ervin Nevitt of Coplan and Crane, Jay Stefani of Levinson and Stefani, and Heidi Wickstrom of Salvi, Schostok, & Pritchard PC.

The winning team will be honored at AAJ’s 2024 Annual Convention, which will be held in Nashville this July.