Hardison & Cochran sponsors Campbell Law trial advocates at NCTC
Campbell Law Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced Hardison & Cochran Attorneys at Law is financially sponsoring a team of Campbell Law student advocates that will compete in the National Civil Trial Competition (NCTC) on Nov. 15 – 17 in Los Angeles.
The team is made up of second-year students Weldon Coates and Courtney Haywood and third-year students Kevin Littlejohn and Lydia Stoney. The team is coached by 2017 graduate and former Top Gun champion Jacob Morse.
“Hardison & Cochran has financially paved the way for our student advocates, and we are blessed to enjoy our relationship with them,” Leonard said. “Their gift provides the opportunity for our students to learn, get competitive experience, and show the rest of the country how our first-class advocacy program is molding the future leading attorneys of tomorrow. We are in debt to them for their generosity.”
Campbell Law has finished in the top five each of the past four years. In 2016, the team finished as national runner-up while winning the championship best advocate award.
The Greene Broillet & Wheeler National Civil Trial Competition is hosted by Loyola Law School and held at the Santa Monica Courthouse. This year’s civil mock trial involves the fictitious case, Ricki Rhodes v. Los Diablos Correctional Center and Pat Mercer. The plaintiff is a former inmate suing the prison and its warden for failing to protect him from a violent cellmate.
The National Civil Trial Competition is a national invitational tournament featuring 16 of the best advocacy programs in the country. To receive an invitation to NCTC, law schools must demonstrate excellence in mock trial competitions and a commitment to training laws students in litigation skills. NCTC was founded with the purpose of providing law students an opportunity to develop and display the skills of an accomplished civil litigator. Student advocates must perform opening statements, direct- and cross-examinations of expert and lay witnesses, closing arguments, and adeptly argue objections based on the Federal Rules of Evidence.