Above-Average Appellants: NAAC Results Are In

Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock emerged from a field of 130 teams as the national champion in the Law Student Division's 1998 National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC). Winning team members Shelley Hallman, Scott Mayo and Mike Murray were coached by Professor Don Hunt.

Second place in the competition went to South Texas College of Law of Texas A&M University in Houston. Team members Eleanor Hodges, Kellye Koehn and Tony Taft were coached by Professor Dale Jefferson and advised by Dean T. Gerald Treece.

NAAC is sponsored each year by the Law Student Division in cooperation with the American Bar Association's Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Young Lawyers Division, Section of Litigation, and Judicial Division's Appellate Judges Conference to help law students develop their oral and written appellate advocacy skills. This year the competition focused on law and religion and dealt with free exercise and establishment clause First Amendment issues. Nineteen regional finalist teams advanced to the competition's finals in August.

The NAAC's Best Brief Award went to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, and the Best Advocate Award went to Kristopher Barber from Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, Texas.

The competition's semifinalists were Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Mississippi (team members Davis Morrow and Joey Fillingane were coached by Doug Minor and advised by Associate Dean Scott Norberg), and Southern Methodist University School of Law in Dallas, Texas (Kristopher Barber, LeDouglas Johnson and Kim Jackson were coached by Magdeline Esquivel and Aubrey "Nick" Pittman).

West Group Inc. provided on-site use of Westlaw and awarded the winning team with $500 in products and services. Books were donated as prizes by Gould, West Group, William S. Hein, Fred B. Rothman, Harrison Company Publishers, and the ABA's Section of Litigation. Judges' robes were provided by Jostens Inc.