Cleveland Reporter

Case Western Reserve University School of Law hosted the Texas Young Lawyers Association National Trial Competition Regional Feb. 10-12 at the Justice Center in Cleveland, Ohio, and once again, CWRU continued its lengthy history of success at this tournament! For the second straight year, and for the fourth time since 2017, CWRU has advanced to the National Championship of the competition.

CWRU sent two teams to the competition. The first team, composed of Andrew Thompson (3L), Veronika Bondarenko (3L) and Ryn Wayman (2L), advanced to the quarterfinals after matches against the University of Cincinnati, Wayne State University and the Ohio State University. The team then fought through two more rounds of competition, including a close round against the University of Akron and a rematch against Ohio State, to win a spot in the National Championship in Texas later this semester.

"I feel privileged beyond words to have the chance to represent CWRU at back to back national tournaments," said Andrew Thompson (3L). "Thank you to the coaches, alumni and volunteers who got us here."

The second team, composed of Meghan Lanter (3L), Jordan Weeks (3L) and Dave Walters (3L) also advanced to the quarterfinals after matches against the University of Dayton, the University of Notre Dame and the Ohio State University, before being knocked out in a rematch against Ohio State.

Due to an odd number of teams in the region, CWRU also fielded a foil team composed of Michaella Polverini (2L), Clare Kelley (2L), Amanda Hays (2L) and Isabella Jackson (2L). This foil team managed the impressive feat of sweeping the preliminary rounds of the competition, but was unfortunately ineligible to advance to the elimination rounds.

Established in 1975 the National Trial Competition involves 140 participating law schools and more than 1,000 law students each year. This is the second year since 2020 that CWRU has hosted the regional competition. CWRU would like to thank the Northern District of Ohio Attorney Admissions Fund for its generous support of the competition, and would like to thank members of the American College of Trial Lawyers for volunteering at the competition throughout the weekend.

Original source can be found here.