Syracuse University College of Law Trial Team Placed Third in Nation

Syracuse University College of Law placed third in the Nation at the 17th Annual Tournament of Champions Trial Competition, and third-year law student Olatokunbo Olaniyan was named Best Advocate. It’s called the “Sweet Sixteen” of trial competitions and Syracuse University College of Law continues to dominate most of the nation’s law schools. The event, sponsored by the National Institute for Trial Advocacy (NITA), was hosted by NITA in Louisville, Colorado. Only the 16 best teams in the country are invited, based on the law school's performance over a three-year period.

The Syracuse Trial Team defeated teams from Temple, Chicago-Kent, Arkansas and Houston, and ranked first going into the semi-finals. The Syracuse team was made up of four third-year law students Stephanie Dellinger, Katherine Lawler, Olatokunbo Olaniyan and Rafiel Warfield. The second-year law students James Flynn and Caitlin McGowan, are the trial team clerks.

“The Syracuse team received the respect of their fellow competitors and coaches, and great praise from tournament coordinators, judges, and attorneys. The students are extremely talented, ethical, and well prepared,” says Joanne Van Dyke, Esq. of Cote, Limpert & Van Dyke, LLP. Joanne Van Dyke, together with her law partner, Joseph S. Cote, III, Esq., are adjunct professors at the law school and have been coaching Syracuse Trial Teams for nearly 12 years. “The College of Law places great value in training and educating law students in trial advocacy. We are enormously proud of the team's exceptional achievement in this competition” says Van Dyke.

Fellow coaches for this trial team include Professor Emeritus Travis H. D. Lewin, Jean Marie Westlake, Esq., Jennifer Richardson, Esq., Brenton Dadey, Esq., and Michelle Cowan, Esq. “I’d like to thank Professor Lewin and all the coaching staff who spend countless hours working with these students and helping them prepare for the competition.”
The fictitious criminal case for the competition, People v. Sanchez, depicts a gang member who killed someone in a gang-related fight. The Defendant denies being a member of a gang and claims he stabbed the victim in self-defense. According to the Defendant, he was an innocent bystander who was in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and wrongly accused of being a member of a gang.


Photograph Attached (left to right): James Flynn, Katherine Lawler, Stephanie Dellinger, Olatokunbo Olaniyan, Rafiel Warfield and Caitlin McGowan.
 

Photograph Attached (left to right): Jean Marie Westlake, Meaghan Ruesch, Megan Hearn, Joseph Cote, Kristen Kemp and Levi Barrett.