Mercer Law’s mock trial team of Aliyah Baaith (3L), Kourtney Chester (2L), and Sarah Young (3L) placed second for prosecution in the 2018 Costello Trial Advocacy Competition, held February 1-4, 2018, in Washington D.C. The completion simulates the evolving and unexpected nature of real-life criminal trials, which provides competitors with a realistic experience as counsel in a criminal trial.
Robert Cabe (‘14) and Carolee Jordan (‘17) coached the team and praised all of the students for their hard work. “The team made a decision to endure a wind sprint of less than one month’s worth of practices. Their ability to learn in such a short amount of time is a display of their commitment to Mercer Law School’s continued success in trial advocacy,” said Cabe. “In the modern world where trials are often disregarded in the name mediation, these students proved that they can honestly announce “ready for trial” when a trial is necessary.”
Additionally, Mercer Law fielded a second team comprised of Will Platt (3L), Gretchen Connick (3L) and Phillip Abshire (2L) who performed exceptionally well. Second-year students Frank Howard and Aurora Kirbo were student coaches for the team.
The Costello competition is uniquely designed by Judge Jonathan Thacher to take participants outside the typical realms of law school competitions. By revealing unknown facts and witnesses as the competition progresses, the Costello competition simulates the evolving and unexpected nature of real-life criminal trials. This dynamic design provides competitors with a realistic experience as counsel in a criminal trial and an exciting take on trial advocacy. Each trial took place in a courtroom at the Fairfax County Judicial Center in front of three judges. All competition judges are local judges and practitioners, and a real judge will preside over each trial.
