On February 9, 2011, two dedicated teams from The John Marshall Law School left for Valparaiso, Indiana to represent the school in the Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Advocacy Regional Competition, known as TYLA. The regional competition takes place February 10-12, 2011 and consists of three grueling preliminary rounds. Only the top two winners from fourteen regional competitions will go on to represent their schools in the Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Advocacy National Competition in Houston, Texas, April 6-11, 2011.
This competition is not like other competitions that The John Marshall Law School will participate in this spring. For this competition, each team consists of three members. One member argues the Plaintiff’s side of the case, one member argues the Defense side of the case, and the third member argues both the Plaintiff and the Defense sides of the case. Therefore, one member on each team has the challenge of preparing both sides. Because the teams consist of three members, the alternates play a crucial role by enabling the teams to scrimmage against themselves.
In addition, these teams must be well prepared because they do not use their own witnesses in the trial. The witnesses are paid actors and the teams do not meet the witnesses until the day of trial, where they are given fifteen minutes to prepare them for court.
The teams representing The John Marshall Law School are:
Jeannie LaBarbara (Plaintiff and Defense), David Cisek (Defense) and Glenn Curran (Prosecution). Alternates: Chris Cromydas and Christi L. Brock. Coached by Meredith Shane.
Mark Kennedy (Plaintiff and Defense), Monica Gutowski (Defense) and Jimmy O’Shea (Prosecution). Alternates: Michael Neumann and Jillian Ruggiero. Coached by Patrick Keegan.
The teams received a complex problem to argue this year. The Defendant, Robert Duffie, has been charged with one count of robbery and two counts of first degree murder. Duffie is accused of stealing $6,000 from the “Everything’s a Dollar Store” where he was employed. Duffie is also accused of murdering his two co-workers, Wendy and Krista, whom he allegedly shot and stabbed while they were bound and gagged.
The complexities of this problem have not discouraged anyone on these teams. Mark Kennedy commented on the progress of his team, stating he is “very excited about the competition. It has been a lot of work up until now but my team and I are well prepared. Everyone knows the case down to the very last detail. We have spent hours combing through the Federal Rules of Evidence. We are ready to go.”
The teams have been practicing relentlessly. Jimmy O’Shea said the best part of his team is “how well everyone has worked together. You spend so many hours with these people it really helps that we all respect one another and genuinely try to help one another out. I have a great team and I cannot wait to go into trial with these guys.”
We wish both of these teams the best of luck in Valparaiso representing The John Marshall Law School.
