Champion FIU Trial Team Featured on Cover of Florida Justice Association Journal

(MIAMI, Florida, September 7, 2018) The FIU College of Law Trial Team – back-to-back champions in the Hon. E. Earle Zehmer Memorial Mock Trial Competition – is featured on the cover of the July/August 2018 issue of Journal, the bi-monthly magazine publication of FJA, the Florida Justice Association.

Featured from left to right are: A.J. Salbo (FIU COL alumna and Zehmer coach), Professor Ari. S. Goldberg (FIU COL and FIU Trial Team alumnus, Trial Advocacy adjunct professor, and Zehmer coach), Shannon Crosby (COL ’18 and Zehmer competitor), Courtney Salas (COL ’18, Zehmer champion and overall competition Best Advocate), Justin Duran (COL ’18, Zehmer champion and Best Advocate Finalist), final round presiding judge Paul G. Byron, U.S. District Judge, Middle District of Florida, Rafael Torres (COL ’18 and Zehmer champion), Josefine Blick (COL ’18, Zehmer champion and Best Advocate Finalist), Annasofia Roig (current Trial Team president and Zehmer champion), Professor H. Scott Fingerhut (Zehmer lead coach), and Bertha Santana (COL ’18, Zehmer competitor and Best Advocate Finalist). Not pictured: Elsa Fernandez (FIU COL and FIU Trial Team alumna) and Cassandra Milnes (FIU COL alumna), both Zehmer coaches.

The FIU Trial Team, coached by FIU COL alumni, won the Zehmer competition in 2016 and 2017, earning FIU the Journal cover for its back-to-back victories. FJA, formerly the Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers (AFTL), sponsors the Zehmer tournament each fall. In 2017, the competition was held at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando. “It is a singular honor for our students and alumni coaching staff to be featured so prominently across Florida on the cover of the FJA Journal,” Professor H. Scott Fingerhut, Assistant Director of FIU’s Trial Advocacy Program and lead Zehmer coach said. “As our founding director, Professor H.T. Smith, always impresses upon us, ‘you’re either getting better or you’re getting beat.’ And it is in that spirit that our courtroom warrior Trial Lawyers-in-Residence prepare so tirelessly and well, and represent our College of Law with the passion and principle that is our special FIU brand.” Find out more about the FIU Law Trial Advocacy Program here, or call 305.348.8095.