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Pepperdine Wins 9th Annual National Civil Trial Competition

Pepperdine University School of Law took gold at the ninth annual National Civil Trial Competition on Nov.13, at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. The Pepperdine team included students Amber Lee, Shane Michael, John Barron, and Brittney Lane.

The National Civil Trial Competition is an invitational tournament started in 2002. More than 40 law schools from all across the country apply, with only sixteen invited to participate in the tournament. Held annually in early November, the three-day competition began on Nov. 11, with early elimination rounds held inside the actual courtrooms at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Each school sent a four-member team, with students required to argue both sides of a hypothetical civil suit with its facts based on a real life case that involved a medical malpractice action based on the death of a celebrity’s parent who was undergoing cosmetic surgery.

In the final rounds, Pepperdine defeated University of Maryland School of Law, Suffolk University Law School and Washington University St. Louis School of Law. This year marks the second time Pepperdine has taken top honors at the competition after winning in 2006.

The final rounds of the National Civil Trial Competition were presided over by the Honorable Stephen Hillman, Federal Magistrate Judge. The 16 law schools competing this year included: Stanford Law School; Cumberland School of Law; Loyola Law School Los Angeles; Loyola University of Chicago School of Law; St. Johns University School of Law; Syracuse University College of Law; Suffolk University Law School; University of Wisconsin Law School; and Washington University St. Louis School of Law.

“The National Civil Trial Competition is one of the most competitive trial competitions in the country,” says Vice Dean Tim Perrin. “We are so proud of our remarkable student advocates who worked diligently to achieve this success.”

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