IIT Chicago-Kent to compete in the National Trial Competition regional tournament 2014
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law will send two teams to the National Trial Competition (NTC) Region 8 tournament February 20 to 23 in Chicago. Lauren Elliott '14, Emily Schroeder '15 and Judy Shammo '15 will compete on one team. The second team will comprise John DiFrancesco '14, Holli Dobler '14 and Lauren Zabrin '14.
The National Trial Competition, established in 1975 by the Texas Young Lawyers Association, is one of the oldest and most prestigious competitions in the United States. The tournament is designed to encourage and strengthen law students' advocacy skills and provide them with valuable interaction with judges and attorneys. The competition is co-sponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association, the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Bar Association.
IIT Chicago-Kent will compete against law school teams from Illinois and Indiana in the regional tournament, with the top two teams advancing to the national competition to be held March 26 to 30 in Austin. In 2011, IIT Chicago-Kent students were national finalists and won the best oral advocate award. In 1988, 2007 and 2008, IIT Chicago-Kent won national championships.
Team member Lauren Elliott completed her undergraduate education in business economics and public policy at Indiana University's Kelly School of Business. Teammate Emily Schroeder graduated from Purdue University with an honors degree in political science with minors in history and Italian. Judy Shammo earned an undergraduate degree in political science with minors in Spanish and sociology from DePaul University.
Team member John DiFrancesco graduated cum laude from Emmanuel College with a major in political science and history. Teammate Holli Dobler graduated cum laude from Miami University with a major in English literature and minors in linguistics and Spanish. Teammate Lauren Zabrin graduated cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in political science and a minor in Spanish.
The team is coached by David A. Erickson, a retired Illinois Appellate Court justice and the director of IIT Chicago-Kent's Trial Advocacy Program, along with IIT Chicago-Kent alumni Joshua Jones '08, Alexandra Molesky '07, Rachel Moran '08, and Erik Wilson '12. (Jones was a member of the IIT Chicago-Kent teams that won the competition's national championships in 2007 and 2008. He won the tournament's best oral advocate award in 2008. Moran was on the 2008 National Moot Court Competition championship team.)
Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. In 2008, IIT Chicago-Kent became the first law school to win both the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year. The most recent U.S. News and World Report ranks IIT Chicago-Kent's Trial Advocacy Program among the top five in the country.
