Trial Advocacy Competition

The Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association established the LEL Trial Advocacy Competition to introduce law students to the challenges and rewards of employment and labor litigation.

The Trial Advocacy Competition is open to teams of law school students from accredited law schools located in the regions of the competitions. Competitions have expanded from original areas of New York, Chicago, Washington DC, and Los Angeles to Florida, Boston, and Seattle.

The objective of the Competition is to introduce law students to employment litigation. Law students who participate in the Competition have the opportunity to develop their trial advocacy skills in a mock courtroom experience with the critique of experienced litigators who serve as judges and jurists.

Teams must consist of four students from the same school. Each trial will last about three hours and will be followed by comments from the evaluators. In each trial round, two students will be advocates and two students will be witnesses for their own trial team. A student will be an advocate or a witness in a trial, but cannot be both advocate and witness in the same trial. The two student advocates who represent the plaintiff will be witnesses when their team is representing the employer and vice versa.

Each team desiring to participate must submit its completed Entry Form and documentation by the deadline established for the year's competition. Early entry is recommended as space is limited. On the entry form, each team must specify the team member who will serve as the contact for the team. Upon receipt of entry form and documentation, each team will be given a team number and directions for obtaining a copy of the case materials and rules. There is no fee to participate in the Competition.

The Competition is made possible by the outstanding commitment of volunteers from the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law who serve as judges and evaluators.

Sites of Interest

Leadership

Co-Chair:  Jason C Marsili

Committee Roster 

Calendar