Juris Education interviewed Lindsey Cloud, the Director of the National Mock Trial Team and Adjunct Professor of Law at the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law, for an exclusive look at what sets the school's Trial Advocacy Program apart.
Two things, primarily: our storied history and our size.
Storied history. Our program benefits from decades of continuity and dedication in leadership. It was run for almost 40 years by the legendary Lou Barracato, a paragon of the trial advocacy community. In 2015, Lou passed the program to prominent Maryland trial attorney John Sharifi. Four years later, in 2019, Catholic's National Mock Trial Team won the National Trial Competition in San Antonio, Texas. The team was coached by Professor Sharifi and me, his former student and mentee. Six years later, I now serve as Director of the program along with Vania Smith, who was on our national championship-winning team and named Best Oral Advocate in the national finals. This cycle of close mentorship and developing leaders from within the program means there is always great passion and institutional knowledge at the helm.
Size. We are relatively small in numbers, which means every student on the National Mock Trial Team has remarkable access to our faculty and coaches. Our program is tight-knit, supportive, and highly engaged, which makes working hard in the courtroom and traveling for competition together enormously productive and fun.
Our students graduate with the ability to try a case in any courtroom in the United States. They build a strong working knowledge of the foundation and fundamentals of trial. Additionally, their oral communication skills, professionalism, poise, confidence, and ability to think on their feet are markedly improved. They learn to work closely with others in a stressful environment, both relying on and being relied upon by their coaches and teammates. These skills are invaluable as students enter their legal careers, and former students frequently say trial team was the best thing they did in law school.
Juris Education is proud to interview experts at the nation's most renowned law schools for insights on what makes their programs unique and how they shape career-ready law students.
