Trial Team

Meet Our Trial Team

Our squad of elite courtroom advocates who train tirelessly to compete in mock trial competition in Florida and across the country. The successes our Trial Team has achieved, including local and national championships and numerous best advocate awards, is a testament to our student and coaching staff’s consistent commitment to excellence and refusal to be outworked.

The Trial Team is composed of second-year, third-year, and evening law students who are selected based on their performance at a rigorous tryout. The team competes in local, state, regional, and national competitions and is engaged both spring and fall semester.

Current Members

Sahara Fonseca

Emanuel Heredia

Kelly Parker (Trial Team Vice President)

Joshua Perez

Annasofia Roig (Trial Team President)

Michael Rojas

Jackson Shuford

Daniel Walker

Competitions & Results

Our Trial Team has participated in the following competitions: The Federal White Collar Crime Mock Trial Invitational, sponsored by the Georgetown Law Barristers’ Council; the AAJ National Student Trial Advocacy Competition, sponsored by the American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America); the Chester Bedell Memorial Mock Trial Competition, sponsored by The Trial Lawyers Section of The Florida Bar; and the Honorable E. Earle Zehmer Memorial Mock Trial Competition, sponsored by the Florida Justice Association. In just over 10 years, our Trial Team students have achieved extraordinary results, including:

2018
Semi-Finalist and Quarter-Finalist, Bedell

2017
Champion, Best Advocate Award, and Three Best Advocate Award Finalists, Zehmer
Semi-Finalist, Regional Competition, AAJ

2016
Champion, Quarter-Finalist, and Best Advocate Award, Bedell
Champion, Semi-Finalist, and Outstanding Advocate Award, Zehmer

2015
Semi-Finalist, Regional Competition, AAJ
Semi-Finalist and Two Best Advocate Award Finalists, Zehmer

2014
Exceptional Advocate Award, Georgetown Federal White Collar Invitational
Semi-Finalist, Zehmer
Quarter-Finalist, Bedell

2013
Quarter-Finalist, Bedell

2012
Champion, Georgetown Federal White Collar Invitational
Second Place, Regional Competition, AAJ
Second Place, Zehmer
Semi-Finalist, Bedell

2011
Semi-Finalist, Zehmer

2010
Fifth Place, Regional Competition, AAJ

2009
Second Place, Zehmer

2008
Champion, Regional Competition, AAJ
Semi-Finalist, Zehmer

2007
Semi-Finalist, Zehmer

2006
Semi-Finalist, Zehmer

Tryout

Next Tryout: August 25, 2018
Informational Meetings: Saturday, August 18, 2018
Tryout Packet Available: Thursday, July 26, 2018

Format: Students wanting to join Trial Team will argue a motion to the court and perform a closing argument to a jury, based on a civil or criminal fact pattern.

Eligibility: Students must have completed their foundational coursework, meet the minimum GPA requirement, and otherwise be in good academic standing with the University and College of Law. Students welcome to tryout include: Rising 2Ls, evening students, transfer students, and December graduates. Students need not have taken Trial Advocacy or Evidence to tryout. We also encourage students wishing to compete on FIU’s Moot Court, ADR/Negotiations, and International Arbitration teams to tryout.

For Information, please contact:

Professor Smith (htsmith@fiu.edu), Professor Fingerhut (fingerhut@fiu.edu), Trial Team President Annasofia Roig (aroig015@fiu.edu), or Trial Team Vice President Kelly Parker (kpark046@fiu.edu).