Congratulations to the Cumberland School of Law Samford University trial team, winners of the 2012 AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Competition!
Regional Competitions: TBDNational Competition: TBD
AAJ 2012 STAC Timeline
- November 10, 2011 (5:00 P.M. EST): School Registration ends
- November 16, 2011: Fact Pattern posted
- November 29, 2011: Team assignments emailed
- December 1, 2011: Team Roster form posted
- December 9, 2011: Regional placements will tentatively be posted online
- December 16 , 2011 (5:00 P.M. EST): All inquiries and requests for Fact Pattern clarification must be submitted. No school, regardless of the number of teams it has in the competition, may submit more than five questions. Each subpart of a question is counted as a question.
- January 10, 2012: Responses to clarifications posted
- January 27, 2012 (5:00 P.M. EST): Team Roster Forms are due
- March 1–4, 2012: Regionals begin
Rules of the AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Competiton
The competition is open to law schools nationwide. Each law school may enter up to two teams, each team consisting of four law students. PLEASE NOTE that your second team will not be officially registered until one team from each law school has entered the mock trial competition. Then the second team will be registered on a first-come, first-served basis until all the team slots are filled. Teams remaining after the competition is full will be put on a waiting list. If spots open up due to teams dropping out of the competition, those spots will be offered to the waitlisted teams on a first-come, first-served basis. If you register two teams and only one team is able to participate, you will receive a refund for the second team.
Each school may use its own method to select its trial team. However, for a student to be eligible, he or she must be enrolled for a J.D. degree and be a student member of AAJ. Students who graduate in December 2011 are eligible to participate only if the competition counts toward their credits for graduation and they will not be admitted to practice prior to March 2012.
Sixteen (16) teams are assigned to each of fourteen (14) regions. Only the top team from each region will advance to the National Finals.
AAJ's mock trial cases are always civil cases and tend to deal with products liability, personal injury, or medical malpractice/negligence issues. Teams will be judged on their skills in case preparation, opening statements, use of facts, the examination of lay and expert witnesses, and closing arguments. There will be no written exercise.
The winning team will receive complimentary airfare, hotel accommodations, and registration for the 2012 AAJ Annual Convention in Chicago, July 28-July 31. In addition, each member of the winning team will receive a $2,000 Stanley Preiser Law Student Award for Trial Advocacy presented by the Melvin M. Belli Society.
LAW SCHOOL INFORMATION SHEET (click on title to access): In an effort to better communicate with our law student members and offer more student specific resources, we ask that you take a moment to complete and return the attached ‘Law School Information’ sheet. Please fax this form to Nyounti Tuan at (202) 625-7084 or e-mail nyounti.tuan@justice.org.
