Media, Law & Policy

College of Law Invites Participants to Inaugural Syracuse National Trial Competition

Wednesday, May 1, 2019, By Robert Conrad

The College of Law has invited applications from law schools nationwide to compete in the Syracuse National Trial Competition (SNTC), a new invitational advocacy competition that will take place in Syracuse city courtrooms and at the College of Law, Oct. 10-12, 2019.

According to Director of Advocacy Programs Professor Todd Berger, 12 law school teams will be selected to compete from those that apply. Team selection will be based on the quality of a school’s advocacy program and on wide geographic diversity.

“We look forward to presenting a robust and exciting competition with talented student advocates sharpening their skills in a realistic courtroom setting,” says Berger. “Each team will be guaranteed four rounds of competition before the semi-final and final rounds, which will take place in Dineen Hall. The fact pattern likely will be based on a civil case. In addition to the team competition, awards will be given for individual student performances.”

“The College of Law has a stellar reputation for the quality and scope of its advocacy program and for its successes at the regional and national levels of major competitions,” says Dean Craig M. Boise. “The visibility the college will garner from hosting a new national trial invitational, and the level of competition we expect will take place, present a significant opportunity for our students and for the college as a whole.”

Honored 10 times as New York’s best trial skills law school by the New York State Bar Association, the College of Law’s Travis H.D. Lewin Advocacy Program teaches essential skills that student advocates will require as practicing lawyers, including trial procedures, strategies and techniques. As part of the curriculum, simulated trials and competitions take place in Dineen Hall’s state-of-the-art courtrooms.

Supporting the advocacy curriculum, the college’s Advocacy Honors Society (AHS) promotes the development of critical written and oral advocacy skills through competition opportunities. AHS hosts four intra-collegiate advocacy competitions and sponsors College of Law teams that participate in 17 nationwide inter-collegiate competitions.