Mock Trial Team Wins Title

A Baylor Law School mock trial team won the prestigious National Trial Competition (NTC), sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and hosted by the Texas Young Lawyers Association in San Antonio. The team of Joel Bailey and Eric Policastro beat a University of Kentucky team in the finals on March 28 to become national champions.

In earlier rounds, Baylor defeated Stanford, Suffolk, Georgia, Loyola of Chicago and Loyola of Los Angeles.

The Baylor team was coached by Waco attorney and adjunct professor Robert Little, BA '02, JD '05, and Gerald Powell, BA '74, JD '77, the Abner V. McCall Professor of Evidence Law and director of the Practice Court Program at Baylor Law School. Law student Crystal Y'Barbo served as evidence coach.

Another Baylor team, Tim Goines and Kendall Cockrell, BA '98, who were regional co-champions with Bailey and Policastro, also represented Baylor well at the national finals.

The NTC is the largest and oldest of the mock trial competitions. Approximately 300 teams from across the United States competed at the regional and national level. 

Another Baylor Law School mock trial team tied for third place in the nation at the Student Trial Advocacy Competition, sponsored by the American Association for Justice (AAJ). The contest was held April 2-5 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

"I am extremely proud of our AAJ team," said team coach Jim Wren, JD '80, associate professor of law. "Winning both national championships in the same spring would have been a shocking accomplishment, particularly considering that there is no overlap in students between our AAJ and ACTL teams. By any measure, it's been a great year for us."

Baylor defeated teams from Stanford, Colorado, New Mexico and Suffolk before losing in the semi-final round, 2-3, to the team from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law.

Baylor was represented by Ed Cloutman, Tom Jacob, Blaire Knox and James Hatchitt. Coaches were Wren and Kathy Serr, JD '91, adjunct professor of law. 

The AAJ competition began with 248 squads from 147 law schools.