News

2/7/05 Northwestern Trial Team Wins Regional Competition

Northwestern University School of Law's National Trial Team has won the Midwest regional championship in the annual National Trial Competition, sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Texas Young Lawyers Association.

The team of third-year JD students Brooke Anthony, Sarah Hefling, and Jack Theis defeated Notre Dame in the final round of the three-day competition held Feb. 4 and 6 at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Kent College of Law. They will advance to the national competition in San Antonio March 31 to April 2.

The team is coached by adjunct professors Dean Polales, a lawyer in private practice; Maria McCarthy, assistant Cook County state's attorney; Jonathan King, partner at Piper Rudnick Gray Cary; and Philip Guentert, assistant U.S. state's attorney. Brooke's father, Joe Anthony, a trial lawyer and member of the American College of Lawyers, also guest coached at the regional competition.

Students try out for Northwestern Law's National Trial Team and are selected based on their advocacy and oral communication skills. The team is coached by practicing attorneys who work with team members throughout the year to prepare for regional and national competitions. At competition, the team presents an entire trial, including an opening statement, direct and cross examinations, and a closing argument. Previous Northwestern teams have won the Chicago regional competition eight times since 1990 and won the National Trial Competition in 1992, 1997, and 2002 (in 2002 two Northwestern teams met and competed against each other in the finals to place first and second).

 

	From left to right: Polales, B. Anthony, Hefling, and Theis

 

 

• Categories: