The National Trial Team is a for-credit student organization comprised of students who demonstrate exceptional ability in trial advocacy. Members of the team meet weekly for class sessions with lectures and practical exercises. Members are then assigned to competition teams and practice teams that meet frequently to run materials and prepare for invitational tournaments. During these practices, team members hone their trial skills by conducting full-length trials in front of federal and state judges and experienced trial attorneys. In addition to these practices, team members learn evidence, trial planning, effective witness examination, and persuasive oral argument skills through the Trial Team class.
The Trial Team is one of the nation’s premier law school advocacy organizations and is ranked in the top 35 trial advocacy teams nationwide. The Team was founded in 1999 by Director Emeritus Jerome Deise, who continues to advise the team and its members. Over the last twenty years the team has won numerous tournaments across the country. In 2020, former Trial Team captain Benjamin Garmoe ’16 was named the Salsbury Director of Trial Advocacy. Garmoe is a Trial Team alumnus and a highly successful trial advocacy coach and instructor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC).
You can contact the Trial Team at trialteam@law.umaryland.edu.
The National Trial Team holds tryouts each spring, open to first-year day students, second year day students, second year evening students, and third year evening students.
Prior to tryouts, the Trial Team will host several information sessions to provide information about the team and give opportunities to ask questions about the tryout process. Additionally, the Team will host at least one workshop to provide more guidance about tryouts, and the Team will host at least one “meet the team” event where current team members will be available to answer questions.
You can watch a recording of the Closing Argument workshop for the 2022 tryout cycle at this link.
In round one, each student is provided with a trial packet and presents a Closing Argument to the members of the team. The Closing Argument is scored by current members of the team, and approximately half of the students who try out will move on to round two.
Those students called back for round two will write and deliver a cross examination using the same trial packet. The witness will be portrayed by a current Trial Team member.
Once tryouts are complete, the new Trial Team members are chosen by the Director, the coaches, and the current team. If there are questions about the tryout process, please reach out to the team at trialteam@law.umaryland.edu.
The National Trial Team holds tryouts each spring, open to first-year day students, second year day students, second year evening students, and third year evening students.
Prior to tryouts, the Trial Team will host several information sessions to provide information about the team and give opportunities to ask questions about the tryout process. Additionally, the Team will host at least one workshop to provide more guidance about tryouts, and the Team will host at least one “meet the team” event where current team members will be available to answer questions.
You can watch a recording of the Closing Argument workshop for the 2022 tryout cycle at this link.
In round one, each student is provided with a trial packet and presents a Closing Argument to the members of the team. The Closing Argument is scored by current members of the team, and approximately half of the students who try out will move on to round two.
Those students called back for round two will write and deliver a cross examination using the same trial packet. The witness will be portrayed by a current Trial Team member.
Once tryouts are complete, the new Trial Team members are chosen by the Director, the coaches, and the current team. If there are questions about the tryout process, please reach out to the team at trialteam@law.umaryland.edu.
Class of 2023
- Cole Baker
- Sean Cooley
- Junior Dufort
- Natalie Gibson
- Norman Greenwell
- Michael Gregory
- Lindsay Hemminger
- Meredith Johnston
- Michelle Lim
- Tohan Okojie
- Jessica Sweeney
- Aja Pollack
- Nicholas Spiller
Class of 2024
- Sydney Branch
- Katherine Coyle
- Joe Dowdell
- Gus Glazov
- Thomas Kiley
- Amirah Loury
- Alex Makar
- Colin Miller
- Laura Milleker
- Anne Moruzzi
- Alexis Smith
- Aurie Serrette
- Becca Wells
Leadership
Salsbury Director of Trial Advocacy
Trial Team Captains
- Lindsay Hemminger
- Michelle Lim
Judges Committee Chair
- Meredith Johnston
Judges Committee Vice-Chairs
- Katherine Coyle
- Gus Glazov
Public Relations Committee Co-Chairs
- Sydney Branch
- Becca Wells
Coaches
Head Coaches
- Ian Anthony '13
- Alex Carlson '13
- Lindsey Rennie '19
Assistant Coaches
- Loretta Bacon '16
- Magaly Bittner '14
- Jhonell Campbell '19
- Hannah Coffin '20
- Pat Dillon '17
- Dylan Elliott '20
- Ashley Fellona '18
- Annie Kenville '17
- Lindsey McCulley '12
- Jade McDuffie McClary '16
- Daniel Moore '19
- Josh Ortega
- Fiona Puglese '20
- Eshawn Rawlley '14
- Ben Salsbury '07
- Aarti Sidhu '18
- Maria Stamidis '17
- Courtney Watkins '18
Additional Coaches
- Jamar Brown '11
- Michael Brown '15
- Lindsey Cook '12
- Laura Dunn '14
- Opeyemi Glover '15
- Julia Hall '15
- Chris Madaio '10
- Rich Medoff '15
- Doug Sampson '15
- Kailey Silverstein '20
- Zara Thomas '19
- Trevonne Walford '15
2022: Cole Abell, Vanessa Agbar, Awurama Agyei, Marie Bauer, Tonecia Brothers-Sutton, Eunice Kabuga, Sangeetha Kannan, Leah Levi, Alyssa Radovanovich, Rachel Savage, Victoria Trocchia, Benjamin Weisburg
2021: Summer Akhtar, Kathleen Ayuk, Pavel Glazunov, Stephanie Haddad, Maya Jackson, Kevin Kidwell, Kathryn Meader, Veronica Mina, Daniel Mooney
2020: Susan Ansari, Alexus Brandon, Hannah Margaret Coffin, Dylan Rogers Elliott, Alexis Ifeanyi Gbemudu, Tamara F. Johnson, Chukwukpee Nzegwu, Fiona Jean Puglese, Kailey M. Silverstein, Shi “Porter” Yang, William Young
2019: Enoch Bevel, Jhonell Campbell, Daniel Moore, Lindsey Rennie, William Rice, Zara Thomas, Timothy VanCisin, Ashly Whidby
2018: Tyler Brown, Haneen Daham, Brain Epstein, Taylor Faulkner, Donovan Hamm, Ashley Fellona, Taylor McAuliffe, Andrew Nagle, Kaitlin Paddy, Aarti Sidhu, Jackie Taylor, Stephanie Trader, Courtney Watkins
2017: Lindsay Defrancesco, Patrick Dillon, Hillary Irvin, Gleda Kuperman, Angela Lam, Annie McGuire, Tom Pacheco, Maria Romas, Ashton Zylstra
2016: Loretta Bacon, Benjamin Garmoe, Diana Griffin, Sean Harding, Daniel Kaprow, Emmit Kellar, Erick Kim, Laura Merkey, Jade McDuffie, James Sheehan, Morgan Thomas
2015: Julia Bates, Michael Brown, Opeyemi Coker, Stephanie Klock, Connie Lee, Richard Medoff, Doug Sampson, Trevonne Walford, Justin Wallace
2014: Magaly Bittner, Laura Dunn, Wandaly Fernandez, Tom Nucum, Martin Nestares, Daniel Phipps, Eshawn Rawlley, Stacy Siegel
2013: Ian Anthony, Robert Alexander Carlson, Sarah David, Letam Duson, Daniel Flanagan, Jasmine Foreman, Glenn Gordon, Wayne Heavener, Marshall Jackson, James Dave O’Donnell, Ashley Sharif, Matthew Wood
2012: Charles Austin, Kara Boyle, Jescie Bohbot, Lindsey Cook, Anwar Graves, Lindsey McCulley, Daniel Mendelson, Funmi Ojetayo, Amanda Radke, Jennifer Ruiz, Derek Simmonsen
2011: Jamar Brown, Benjamin Bruins, Sally McMillan Guy, Mattthew Miller, Keisha Williams, Ngai Zhang
2010: Scott Allen, Greg Arbogast, Dana Backlund, Cathrin Banks, Christine Bowman, Michele N. Bradley, Mark Edelson, John Everett, Chris Madaio, Chris Monti, Ryan Severson, Keith Shebairo, Joseph T. Stovall, II
2009: Matt Brungo, Brandon Draper, Erin Frazee, Lauren Geisser, Sandra Goldberg, Lauren Grossman, Miguel Palmeiro
2008: Melissa Bilchik, Rebecca Caldwell, Ron Marryott, Ben Peoples, Tiffani Sterrette, Marcus Wang, Nolan Weltchek
2007: Jessica Butkera, Jason Downs, Gaines Johnston, Sig Libowitz, Ann Marie Park, Scott Richman, Ben Salsbury, Rachel Simmons, Alicia Wilson
2006: Abigail Bortnick, Julia Carolan, David Chamberlin, Tiffany Harvey, Veronica Jennings, Moyah Kettle, Seth Kleiner, Andres Lopez
2005: Amanda Cofflin, Justin Cuniff, Mary Garner, Brendan Hurson, Chris Lee, Adrianne Lord, Emily Malarkey, Peter Nothstein, Ryan Perlin, Jason Steinhardt
2004: A.J. Bellido de Luna, Tina Hixon, Governor Jackson III, Andrea Kirby, Kristopher Mallahan, Elizabeth Mandy, Alyson Miller, Prathyusha Reddy, Paul Solomon
2003: Christine Bautista, David Booth, Melissa de Beer, Katherine Eller, Amy Eroh, Mary Holohan, Jay Ortis, Joseph Ward
2002: Taraneh Azani, Andrew Brought, Marnell Cooper, Serena Mosley-Day, Todd Reinecker, Kelly Trumpbour
2001: Johan Flynn, Lisa Hesse, Michael Lofts, Christopher Smith, Christopher Steer, Wendy Webb
2000: Amy Cavero, Dawn Lanzalotti, Quang Nguyen, Lisa Voso
1999: Michael Hecht, Cathy Hinger, Peter Johnson, Ramsay Whitworth
The following alumni have made a generous multi-year commitment to support the National Trial Team:
Loretta M. Bacon '16
Magaly D. Bittner '14
Michael B. Brown ’15 and Susan R. Schipper '15
Sarah David '13 and Glenn A. Gordon '13
Jason G. Downs '07
Letam P. Duson '13
Mark Edelson '10
John T. Everett '10
Anwar L. Graves '12
Joe ’93 and Jenny '92 Hovermill
Daniel E. Kaprow '16
Lindsey N. McCulley '12
Daniel Moore '19
Andrew B. Nagel '18
Ben ’07 and Becca Salsbury '08
Timothy VanCisin '19
Justin Wallace '15
Alicia L. Wilson '07
Spring 2022
Our American Association for Justice (AAJ) team won their regional and advanced to Nationals, defeating Quinnipiac, Drexel, UConn and New Hampshire on their way to an undefeated performance. The team was comprised of 3Ls Eunice Kabuga and Tonecia Brothers-Sutton and 2Ls Meredith Johnston and Lindsay Hemminger, and was coached by Trial Team alumni Alex Carlson '13, Courtney Watkins '18, and Eshawn Rawlley '14. AAJ is a nationwide competition with several regionals across the country where teams compete to earn a bid to Nationals. Maryland has now won our AAJ regional in three of the past five years the competition was held, including regional wins in 2017 and 2018.
Our American University Capital City Challenge team advanced to octofinals, sweeping their preliminary rounds before losing an extremely close trial to South Carolina in the playoffs. The team was comprised of 3Ls Alyssa Radovanovich and Awurama Agyei and 2Ls Michelle Lim and Cole Baker, and was coached by Trial Team alumni Hannah Coffin '20, Jhonell Campbell '19, and Magaly Bittner '14. The Capital City Challenge is an invitation-only tournament hosted by American University, and our team made Maryland proud by fighting through a challenging schedule in the preliminary rounds to advance to the playoffs.
In addition to these tournaments, Maryland also competed at the Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Competition (NTC) and the South Texas Mock Trial Challenge.
Fall 2021
Our Quinnipiac/ABA Criminal Justice Competition team went undefeated and emerged as champions of the 2021 Quinnipiac tournament! They defeated UCLA, Miami, South Carolina, Florida State, and Pace to win the tournament in dominating fashion. The team was comprised of 4E Vanessa Agbar and 2Ls Meredith Johnston, Lindsay Hemminger, and Nicholas Spiller, and was coached by Trial Team alumni Alex Carlson '13, Maria Stamidis '17, and Jhonell Campbell '19. Quinnipiac is an invitation-only tournament hosted by Quinnipiac Law School and co-sponsored by the American Bar Association, and some of the nation’s best trial advocacy programs compete at this tournament each year.
Maryland also competed at the Georgetown Federal White Collar Crime Invitational, where 3L and team co-captain Eunice Kabuga was recognized as an Outstanding Advocate in the preliminary rounds.
In addition to these tournaments, Maryland also competed at the Fordham Judge Paul Joseph Kelly, Jr. Invitational, the St. Mary’s All-Star Bracket Challenge, the Syracuse National Trial Competition, and the Buffalo-Niagara Mock Trial Competition.
Spring 2021
Two Maryland teams competed in our American Association for Justice (AAJ) regional, and one team advanced to semifinals! The team of 4E Kevin Kidwell, 3Ls Tory Trocchia and Summer Akhtar, and 2L Rachael Savage advanced to semifinals, and the team of 3Ls Daniel Mooney, Stephanie Haddad, Veronica Mina, and Kathryn Meader had a strong performance but narrowly missed advancing to semifinals as well.
Two Maryland teams competed in our Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Competition (NTC) regional, and one team advanced to semifinals! The duo of 3L Summer Akhtar and 2L Sangeetha Kannan advanced to semifinals at NTC, and the team of 2Ls Eunice Kabuga, Tonecia Brothers-Sutton, and Cole Abell had a fantastic weekend and barely missed advancing to semifinals.
In addition to these tournaments, Maryland also competed at the American University Capital City Challenge, the South Texas Mock Trial Challenge, and the National Ethics Trial Competition.
Fall 2020
Our St. Mary’s All-Star Bracket Challenge team went undefeated and won their regional tournament, advancing to Nationals in the first year of this competition’s existence! Maryland defeated Puerto Rico, Loyola New Orleans, Texas Tech, and Northwestern to earn the #1 seed in our region. The team was comprised of 3Ls Summer Akhtar, Veronica Mina, and Daniel Mooney, and 2L Sangeetha Kannan, and was assisted by 2L tech chair Cole Abell. Summer Akhtar was also named an Outstanding Advocate for our region. The team was coached by Trial Team alumni Ian Anthony '13 and Alex Carlson '13.
Our Buffalo-Niagara Mock Trial Competition team finished as semifinalists! The Buffalo team of 4E Kevin Kidwell, 3L Kathryn Meader, and 2Ls Rachael Savage and Eunice Kabuga defeated Drexel, South Dakota, and South Carolina in the preliminary rounds, and took down Cardozo in the quarterfinals to advance to semifinals. The team was coached by Trial Team alumni Lindsey Cook '12 and Lindsey Rennie '19.