“The University of Akron has won a national championship. The law schools trial advocacy team traveled to Los Angeles, Calif. over the weekend and claimed top prize in the National Civil Trial Competition. Teams in the competition had to be invited to attend.”
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The University of Akron has won a national championship.

The law schools trial advocacy team traveled to Los Angeles, Calif. over the weekend and claimed top prize in the National Civil Trial Competition. Teams in the competition had to be invited to attend.

This competition competed against the strongest trial teams across the nation, trial team director Bill Rickett said. The team that we took the final round from was Stetson who is from Florida.

Stetson, along with Akron and Temple, is one of the biggest and most powerful trial teams in the country.

Larry Sutter, the head coach for the team said he was happy with the work his students put in and the reputation UA has continued to honor.

This is our third national championship since 2003 and this is the 12th time in the history of the program that we’ve made it to the national championship final round, Sutter said. The students only got there because they put in an astronomical amount of work since the first weeks of school.

This years competition revolved around a racial discrimination case made by a black fire fighter against a fire department. The case was based on a real case filed against California regarding the Los Angeles Fire Dept.

The team had to fight through three rounds of preliminary trials in order to make the cut to be one of the final four in the competition. UA defeated The University of Houston in the semi-final round Stetson in the final round.

Rickett said he was informed it was a 3-2 final round score against Stetson, but the official scores have not been released yet. He was also unofficially informed that UA defeated Houston 3-0 in the semi-final round.

Sutter said he was proud of the team after such a great competition.

Any time you win a national championship its time to step back and take a look at your accomplishments, Sutter said. The University of Akron trial team is already considered one of the premier teams in the county and this just solidifies our position as one of the top programs out there.

The team has continuously finished in top spots in half a dozen competitions throughout the fall season.

Two students finished first and second in a closing argument competition in Cleveland; they were runners up in the National Criminal Trial Competition held in Buffalo NY; and second place in the National Institute for Trial Advocacy Tournament of Champions in Louisville Colorado.

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