Litigation & Trial Advocacy Programs
My measure of which law schools seem to have active litigation programs is
the ATLA (American Trial Lawyers Association) list of national mock trial
competition participants. Their web page shows participants from 2000 to
2004. Here's what I learned:
A surprising number of schools never or hardly ever participate in the
competition. They include:
- Arkansas-Fayetteville
- Arkansas-Little Rock
- Boston College
- Cal-Davis
- Cal-Hastings
- Chicago
- Cincinnati
- Colorado
- Columbia
- Cornell
- Dayton
- Detroit Mercy
- District Of Columbia
- Gonzaga
- Hawaii
- Indiana-Indianapolis
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Maine
- Marquette
- Mercer
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Mississippi College
- Missouri-Columbia
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- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New England
- New Mexico
- New York - CUNY
- New York Law School
- Northeastern
- Notre Dame
- Ohio Northern
- Oregon
- Pittsburgh
- Regent
- Saint Louis
- U. St. Thomas (in Michigan)
- San Francisco
- Santa Clara
- Southern Cal.
- Southern Illinois
- Stanford
- Texas Southern
- Utah
- Vanderbilt
- Virginia
- Washburn
- Western N. Eng.
- Western State
- Yale
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Another bunch participate sometimes, but not routinely. They include:
- Arizona
- Cal-Berkeley
- Cal-UCLA
- DePaul
- Duke
- Emory
- Louisiana State
- Louisville
- Loyola-New Orleans
- Memphis
- New York University
- North Carolina Central
- North Dakota
- Northern Illinois
- Nova
- Penn
- Richmond
- Rutgers-Newark
- Saint Thomas (in Florida)
- Seton Hall
- Touro
- Villanova
- Washington
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A third group enters the competition regularly. They are:
- Akron
- American
- Appalachian
- Baltimore
- Barry
- Boston University
- Brigham Young
- Buffalo - SUNY
- California Western
- Case Western Reserve
- Catholic
- Chapman
- Cleveland State
- Connecticut
- Creighton
- Florida Coastal
- Florida State
- Franklin Pierce
- George Mason
- Georgetown
- Golden Gate
- Hamline
- Illinois
- Indiana-Bloomington
- Lewis And Clark
- Loyola-L.A.
- Miami
- Michigan State
- North Carolina Chapel Hill
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- Northern Kentucky
- Oklahoma
- Oklahoma City
- Pace
- Quinnipiac
- Rutgers-Camden
- Saint Mary's
- Seattle
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- South Texas
- Southern
- Southwestern
- Stetson
- Suffolk
- Syracuse
- Tennessee
- Texas Wesleyan
- Thomas Cooley
- Toledo
- Tulsa
- Valparaiso
- Vermont
- Washington And Lee
- Wayne State
- West Virginia
- Whittier
- Widener (Delaware)
- Willamette
- Wisconsin
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And the elite group not only enters but at least sometimes wins at the regional
level or higher. They are:
- Alabama
- Albany
- Arizona State
- Baylor
- Brooklyn
- Campbell
- Capital
- Cardozo
- Chicago-Kent
- Denver
- Drake
- Duquesne
- Florida
- Fordham
- George Washington
- Georgia
- Georgia State
- Harvard
- Hofstra
- Houston
- Howard
- Idaho
- John Marshall
- Kentucky
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- Loyola-Chicago
- Maryland
- McGeorge
- Missouri-Kansas City
- Montana
- Northwestern
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Pepperdine
- Roger Williams
- Saint John's
- Samford (Cumberland)
- San Diego
- Southern Methodist
- Temple
- Texas
- Texas Tech.
- Thomas Jefferson
- Tulane
- Wake Forest
- Washington U.
- William And Mary
- William Mitchell
- Wyoming
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So what does this mean to you? If you really want to be hired as a trial
lawyer, I would advise going to a school in that last group. If you know
you want some litigation experience to be part of your legal education, but
don't necessarily want to work exclusively as a litigator, look at the middle
two lists. Use the first list only if you're sure that transactional work
is in your future.
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