The Trial Advocacy Team from the Massachusetts School of Law Wins Third Place in the 2010 Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition and for the Third Time in Four Years Will Compete in the National Finals with the Other Regional Winners

Massachusetts School of Law's Trial Advocacy Team demonstrated tremendous advocacy skills during the 2010 Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition for the Northeast Region of the National Black Law Students Association. In winning third place in the competition, MSL’s top two teams lost only to Harvard University Law School throughout the entire competition. Harvard University Law School won the Trial Competition and Columbia University Law School won the Moot Court Competition held at the regional convention at Syracuse University. The Northeast region is comprised of the 33 law schools in New England, New York and northern New Jersey.

MSL's students displayed impressive command of the evidence, law and facts while displaying great advocacy skills throughout the competition. MSL advanced two teams to the Elite 8 of the highly competitive Northeast Region. The teams that qualified for the Elite 8 were from Harvard, MSL, St. Johns and Syracuse. While teams are not allowed to disclose their team affiliation during the competition, among the teams that MSL beat were NYU, St. Johns, Brooklyn and Syracuse to advance to the semifinals where it lost to Harvard in a tight match.

MSL now competes in the National Finals for the third time in four years. In the last five years, MSL teams have finished in 3rd place three times, 2nd place twice and 1st place once. In 2008, when MSL won the top four spots in the regional competition and went on to compete in the National Finals of the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition, MSL finished third in the country losing only to the national champion. Two teams from Harvard University Law School met in the finals to take top honors. The two Harvard teams and MSL now advance to the national finals with the 12 other winners from the remaining four regions across the United States. For the first time in the last four years, the best advocate award in the competition did not go to a student from MSL. MSL student Nicole Dion won the award in 2007 and 2008 and Allen Woodward won the award in 2009. An impressive performance and perfect score by Harvard student Allison Reid won Reid the best advocate award despite strong competition from MSL students Shane Rodriguez, Mercy Saigbah and Clynetta Neely.

MSL team members are Mirna Diaz, Morjietta Derisier, Jamal Johnson, James Ezeigwe, Shane Rodriguez, Clynetta Neely, Mercy Saigbah, Babatunde Adebayo, Diana Laurent, Sharon Legall, Rasheida Craig, Candice Robinson, Eversley Linley, Marsha Clarke, Chantelle Hashem and Nisha Mungroo. Associate Dean Michael Coyne, attorney and Professor Dan Harayda and Attorney Joseph Filippetti serve as the coaches of MSL's Trial Advocacy team. Harayda praised team members for their professionalism and skill as advocates.

In praising the team's performance, Dean Coyne said, “In California at the National Criminal Defense Trial Competition where the team placed 9th in the country and at Syracuse in the Thurgood Marshall Trial Competition where it won third place, this team displayed great intelligence, command of the law and the rules of Evidence. It is not surprising how much they accomplished. The only surprise is that anyone could do better than they did but there is no shame in losing to an equally talented team as that from Harvard. Both groups of team members are truly among the very best law students in the United States. It was a pleasure to see the team demonstrate their significant knowledge and command of the law. They will be great lawyers who will serve their communities well”.