Brandeis mock trial team makes its mark at regional competition

Four Brandeis Law students participated in the American College of Trial Lawyers’ Regional Trial Competition Feb. 17-19, 2017, demonstrating their advocacy skills as they competed against their peers.

Brandeis Law's National Trial Team consists of two teams of two students each: Jasmine Chenault and Georgia Turner and Justin Brezosky and James Wilkerson.

They regional competition gathered 25 teams from Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas.

Brezosky and Wilkerson faced tough competition in the first three rounds, competing against the University of Kentucky, the University of Missouri and Northern Kentucky University. They missed qualifying for the top eight by a just a few points. 

Chenault and Turner advanced to the top eight as the second-highest ranked team at the competition. They defeated teams from Memphis University, St. Louis University and Belmont University.

They proceeded to win every ballot in the semifinal round by a wide margin against a team from Vanderbilt University. 

Moving into the final round, Chenault and Turner were the top-ranked team at the tournament. In the final round, they played the team from the University of Missouri and narrowly lost the round.

Chenault and Turner’s appearance in the championship round qualifies them as one of the highest-performing trial teams in Brandeis history. Both are second-year students and anticipate returning to the regional tournament next year and bringing home the win.

The National Team is coached by three local attorneys. Chris Schaefer of the law firm Stoll Keenon Ogden PLLC is the head coach of the team. He is assisted by William Merrifield of Hebel & Hornung PSC and Matt Kuhn of Stoll Keenon Ogden.

This is the first year these three attorneys have coached the National Trial Team.

“We coach to educate and to foster confidence in young lawyers, to teach them to carry themselves with confidence and poise even in the face of adversity, to prepare and advocate for their client with everything they have, to portray professionalism and courtesy to others," Schaefer says.

"Every Brandeis student that competed this weekend portrayed those qualities in spades.”

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