Fall 2020

Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy Takes Flight

In the last three years, UCLA Law’s A. Barry Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy has exploded in size, opportunities, and successes. In the classroom, students have more courses than ever before to prepare them for careers in the courtroom. In simulation competitions, students have earned the best record in the country. And in the job market, students are using their trial advocacy training to set themselves apart. As a result, prospective students are applying to -- and choosing -- UCLA Law because of our trial advocacy program.

Best in the Nation:
UCLA Law’s Trial Team Ranks No. 1

UCLA Law’s A. Barry Cappello Trial Advocacy Team received the No. 1 National Ranking for 2020 in the Trial Competition Performance Rankings, an objective measure of success in interscholastic competitions compiled annually by Fordham University School of Law’s Brendan Moore Trial Advocacy Center. Detailed rankings data track the success of more than 160 law schools and designate a fixed number of points to programs for coming in first, second, or as a semifinalist at trial competitions. Since 2018, UCLA Law’s Trial Advocacy Team has entered 23 trial competitions, reaching the playoffs in 20 and finals in 14, and winning first place in 8. More than 40 students and 15 coaches contributed to this achievement.

Cappello Program Expands Course Offerings

UCLA Law has a long history of outstanding trial advocacy courses, led by luminaries such as David Binder, Albert Moore, and Paul Bergman. In the past three years, the Cappello Program has begun offering even more classes for students who wanted to build a career in the courtroom. We still have the mainstays: Civil Trial Advocacy, led by Steve Derian and Charles Anderson, and Criminal Trial Advocacy, taught by Peter Johnson and Diane Birnholz. But since 2018, we have added five others, including:

• Advanced Trial Advocacy, which focuses on storytelling, jury selection, and witness control.
• Advanced Criminal Advocacy, taught by George Cardona, which debuts in Spring 2021 and will focus on special issues such as cooperating witnesses, defense character witnesses, and wiretap evidence.
• Advanced Evidentiary Objections, pioneered by Professor Eileen Scallen, which allows students to apply lessons from evidence via motions in limine and trial objections.

Starting Strong: Trial Team Opens
Its Season With Three Major Victories

After earning the No. 1 ranking, UCLA Law's Trial Advocacy Team started its season with three big wins, most notably the Tournament of Champions, the most exclusive trial advocacy competition in the country. Sponsored by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the invitational event features the 16 law schools with the best records over three years. UCLA Law won the Tournament of Champions in just the second year that it qualified for the competition. That success followed a first-place finish at the Summit Cup, which is hosted by the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and is limited to 20 of the top trial advocacy programs in the country. There, among the nearly 80 law students who competed, 3L Cappello Scholar Jack Eyers (pictured above) was named outstanding advocate of the tournament. The trial team also won the Battle of the Experts, hosted by Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law, by besting nine of the top 10 law schools in the U.S. News & World Report trial advocacy rankings.

COVID Response: Forging New Paths

Amid in-person school closures and global travel restrictions, UCLA School of Law’s A. Barry Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy Director Justin Bernstein created online trial competitions for the nearly 10,000 law students and undergraduates whose tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis. As early as March 13, Bernstein created the College Mock Trial Online Championship for undergraduate students, and two days later he had partnered with Fordham University to develop and host the National Online Trial Advocacy Competition for law students. These competitions included the continued engagement of students in the Cappello Program. Every member of the UCLA Law trial team helped score the college competition, and some members submitted entries to the law school event. In June, UCLA Law hosted the annual college trial advocacy one-on-one national championship, Trial by Combat, with Drexel’s Thomas A. Kline School of Law. Brittnee Bui ’20 (pictured above) finished fourth in an online trial competition open to all law students in the country.

Meet Our Students:
Spotlighting Cappello Scholars

The A. Barry Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy seeks to provide comprehensive training in the strategies and techniques required to be a successful trial lawyer. Cappello Scholarships provide financial awards to admitted students with a history of success and interest in trial advocacy. This is another way that UCLA Law’s commitment to trial advocacy is nearly unique among top-tier law schools. Cappello scholars pictured above (from left to right) Enrico Trevisani ’22, Tiffany Sarchet ’21, Deeksha Kohli ’20, and Jack Eyers ’21 gather on campus before the pandemic. Other recent Cappello Scholars include Rocky Maas ’22, Regina Campbell ’23, and Sarah Stebbins ’23.

Setting the Standard:
Guide to Online Trial Competitions

Cappello Program Director Justin Bernstein wrote a guide to hosting online trial competitions, with co-authors from Baylor Law School and Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law. The free and publicly accessible guide was published in August 2020 and hosts all over the country have been adopting its recommendations and best practices for mock trial competitions at the law school, college, and high school levels. Bernstein (pictured above in the top row and second to the left) poses with students last year in a courtroom during the National Trial Competition.