Georgia State Law Team Wins Daniel National Invitational Mock Trial Competition
November 22, 2006
Georgia State University's College of Law won the 10th Annual William W. Daniel National Invitational Mock Trial Competition Nov. 19 in Atlanta. The competition is hosted by the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the State Bar of Georgia as an annual criminal mock jury trial competition for U.S. law students.
GSU Law national champion mock trial team members include left to right: L-R: Suzanne Lee-Jackson (2L - witness), Jason Waters (3L - attorney), Jordan Jewkes (3L - attorney), Elinor Hale (3L - attorney), Emily Ahlquist (2L - witness), Zachary North (2L - witness) and Joshua Sutton (2L - witness).
The talented competitors hail from law schools across the country. All Georgia law schools are also invited to participate. Every summer, the William W. Daniel National Invitational Mock Trial Committee sends hundreds of applications to ABA-accredited law schools. Only 18 schools are invited to compete in this well-known competition named in honor of the late Judge William W. Daniel of the Superior Court of Fulton County.
Colleges of law from around the state including GSU, the University of Georgia, John Marshall and Emory University competed against law schools from across the country Nov. 17-19 at the Fulton County Courthouse. Georgia State's team bested the University of Georgia in the semi-final round and the University of Houston in the final round to claim the national championship.
Georgia State's mock trial team included Elinor Hale, Jason Waters, Jordan Jewkes, Emily Ahlquist, Suzanne Lee, Zach North and Josh Sutton. Hale was also named Best Advocate for the competition. Coaches for the team were Alison Burleson, chief assistant solicitor general in DeKalb County, and Brian Fortner, assistant district attorney in Douglas County.
Jonathan A. Pope, president of the YLD and a Georgia State College of Law graduate, presented trophies to the winning teams. Barbara Maschalk, a partner with Drew Eckl & Farnham LLP, chaired the competition. Drew Eckl & Farnham also provide much of the support for the event. In addition, more than 100 attorneys from the metro Atlanta area served as evaluators for the Daniel National Invitational Mock Trial competition.
“We are extremely proud of our mock trial team,” said College of Law Dean Steven Kaminshine. “This type of experience is tremendously valuable for law students, and to win a national competition speaks volumes for the quality of our students. We congratulate the participants and coaches on a job well done, as well as the leadership of Tom Jones, the team's faculty advisor who works tirelessly with our students.”