Campbell Law advocates return to Hofstra Medical Legal Mock Trial Competition

Campbell Law School advocates are set to compete once again in the third annual Hofstra Medical Legal Mock Trial Competition. This year the competition will be held virtually from Nov. 6-8, 2020.  The competition is hosted by the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. Campbell Law is the only North Carolina law school invited to this year’s competition.

Third-year students Kelsey Myers and Joshua Steedly and second-year students Michael Vitale, Holly Rabil and Samantha Wyant are representing Campbell Law, and the team is coached by Campbell Law alumna Casey Peaden ’17.

The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, in conjunction with the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, created a tournament focused on the impact expert witnesses can have on trial outcomes, according to the website. The competition features a new and unique approach to a mock trial competition — it’s the only trial competition in the country in which a medical school and a law school collaborate to simulate real-life expert testimony by doctors.

“An expert witness will be assigned to each school for each side of the case upon release of the fact pattern,” the website states. “The witness will be a student from our Medical School and will be prepared by the competitors via skype/phone/videoconference or email. The expert witness may be cross-examined on any relevant material to their testimony, including literature not contained in the fact pattern. Student advocates must direct and cross-examine expert witnesses using every available tool – including qualifications, methodology, proper application, bias, etc.”

The tournament selects 10 law schools and mock trial coaches with a history of success in mock trial competitions to compete over a three-day period. Campbell Law advocates won the competition in 2019. Learn more at this link.