The Temple Law Trial Team turned in another dominant performance by winning first place at the Judge Paul Joseph Kelly, Jr. Invitational Trial Competition, hosted by Fordham University School of Law. Third-year law student Lauren Doig and second-year student Aaron Freedman were masterful, with Freedman picking up individual honors as Best Advocate in the Finals. The team was coached by Ben McKenna LAW ‘13 and Matt Helman, with assistance from Professor Elizabeth Lippy, Director of the Trial Advocacy Program, and support from the Trial Team and the Advocacy faculty.
In this criminal case mock trial competition, the students alternated rounds as prosecution and defense, preparing and mastering arguments for both sides. The competition provides the witnesses for the rounds, meaning that teams had 15 minutes before each round of competition to meet with their witnesses for the first time in order to prepare them for the subsequent round of competition.
After four preliminary rounds of competition, Temple was the only undefeated team to advance to the semi-final round out of 16 initial teams from across the nation. Doig and Freedman triumphed over Quinnipiac in the semi-final to face Loyola Chicago in the final round.
“I am very grateful for this experience and attribute our success to Lauren, our coaches, and all of the family and trial team members that sacrificed early mornings and late evenings to help us prepare. Lauren was truly sensational, not only this past weekend but as a leader and partner in the weeks leading up to the tournament,” said Freedman. “Further, I am convinced that we have the best coaches in the country. Their knowledge, skill, and talent are unparalleled and inspired us to what we’ve achieved.”
“I feel really lucky to have been partners with someone as talented as Aaron and to be taught by the most dedicated and inspiring coaches,” said Doig. “Our coaches really believed in us and pushed us to be the best we could be. We could not have done this without them and so many other members of the trial team who helped us prepare along the way.”
“Watching our Temple advocates Lauren Doig and Aaron Freedman compete was truly awe-inspiring,” said Professor Lippy. “The amount of work that is required to excel in this particular competition is noteworthy given the fact that these students had to prepare, learn, and present both sides of the case with witnesses provided by the competition. Even with the amount of uncertainty surrounding the election throughout the week and into the weekend, these student-advocates remained focused and confident throughout. The running joke of the weekend was that Philadelphia showed the country just how important our city is, so Temple should show this field of 16 competing law schools what Philly is made of as well! They definitely did just that.”