National Advocacy Champions for the Second Time in Three Years!

Alexandria Loveless (3L) and Sara Berry (3L) are the new ABA Negotiation National Champions and Arya Sadighian (3L) and Susanna Gonzales-McCaulley (3L) are on the team heading to the Mediation Nationals. The ADR students are coached by Dan Rawlins and alumni Michelle Kellogg ’20 and Francis Carlota ’21.

California Western student advocates have done it again! Our Advanced Dispute Resolution (ADR) Team has won the American Bar Association’s 2023 National Negotiation Competition in Chicago! This marks the second time in just three years that California Western has won the entire prestigious ABA competition and three years in a row that we have won our region. This is a remarkable feat when you consider that our team went against every top-ranked law school in the nation and came out on top!

Our ADR team isn’t done yet though: They have also recently won the regional ABA Mediation Competition and will advance to that national competition as well! All of this is a clear indication of our program’s strength in alternative dispute resolution and its ability to produce incredible negotiators and mediators who will graduate with these real-life skills.

The Appellate and Trial teams have also had continued success. At the recent UCLA Cybersecurity National Moot Court Competition, our appellate team was awarded 2nd place for oral advocacy among the 32 teams in the competition! This same team of 3L’s, Jonathan Kaldas and Brooke Miles, also advanced to the national round of the Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition after winning 1st Place and 2nd Best Brief in the regional event last fall. They were coached by alum Elijah Gaglio ’18 in both competitions. At the USD National Criminal Procedure Tournament in the fall, Connor Rathbun (3L) was also awarded 2nd best appellate oral advocate.

Competitive Advocacy Program

Below is a summary of their success from just 2022 to now:

2023

1st Place, National ChampionsABA Negotiation National Competition | ADR Team

1st Place, Regional Winner – ABA Mediation Regional Competition | ADR Team

2nd Best Oral Advocates Award – UCLA Cybersecurity National Competition | Appellate Team

Our team for The Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition recently won a second-place award for best memorials (briefs) at the national round of this prestigious competition! When considering this accomplishment, only the University of Denver scored higher. Which means their writing skills beat every California team present at the competition! This includes UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Irvine, and USD! The Jessup team members are Chelsey Barkley (3L), Maliat Chowdhury (2L), Alexander Gutterud (2L), Mariah Mantzke (2L), and Valerie Sigamani (2L). This was also Chelsey and Maliat’s second year participating on the Jessup Team. The team was coached by Professor Emerita Bobbie Thyfault ’84, Professor William Aceves, and alum Kate Clark ’10. Alumni Elijah Gaglio ’18 and Sahar Karimi ’18 also helped with coaching.

Last fall our trial team came in 2nd place at the San Diego ABTL Trial Competition and our student Bridget Hulbert (3L) was awarded best advocate of the entire competition. We also had a trial team return to the CACJ National Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition where they advanced past the preliminary rounds and finished 7th place out of the 28 law schools there from across the country.

Overall, The Competitive Advocacy Program (CAP) has been on quite a winning streak over the past several years. The impressive accomplishments achieved by our advocates and alumni coaches are a clear demonstration of their hard work and skills, especially in the face of ranked law schools across the country.

If you would like more info about CAP or want to learn more ways that you can support the advocacy students’ efforts, please feel free to reach out to our Advocacy Program Director Paul Parisi ’06 at PParisi@cwsl.edu.

2nd Place for Best Brief in Regional CompetitionJessup International Law Moot Court Competition Appellate Team

2022

1st Place, Regional Winner - ABA Negotiation Regional Competition | ADR Team

2nd Place – Tulane International Futbol Negotiation Competition | ADR Team

2nd Place – Southwestern Law School National Negotiation Tournament | ADR Team

2nd Best Oral Advocate Award - USD National Criminal Procedure Appellate Tournament | Appellate Team

1st Place, Regional Winner & 2nd Best Brief awarded – Thomas Tang Moot Court Competition Appellate Team

7th Place for Best Brief in the Nation out of 87 Law Schools & Advanced to the Final National Round of The Top 32 Law Schools Based on Oral Arguments - Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition Appellate Team

2nd Place and Best Advocate Award – San Diego ABTL Trial Competition | Trial Team

7th Place out of 28 teams - CACJ National Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition | Trial Team

Finalist - Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA) Regional Competition | Trial Team

Finalist - AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Regional Competition | Trial Team