Law students from some of the top trial advocacy programs in the country will take part in the thirteenth annual National Top Gun Mock Trial Competition, scheduled for June 1-5 at Baylor Law School in Waco.
This year’s competition, known as Top Gun XIII, is by invitation only and is among the nation’s most prestigious and intense mock trial competitions. It is limited to 16 law schools, each represented by one student who will be announced as their school’s advocate in May. Participants will not receive the case details they will argue until 24 hours prior to the competition, and the winner will take home a $10,000 prize.
“Every year, we strive to provide a problem that challenges the best mock trial competitors in the country,” said Robert Little, Baylor Law School’s director of advocacy programs, in a press release. “Top Gun XIII gives student advocates the chance to face the very best of their peers in the courtroom after having just 24 hours to analyze a detailed and complicated case file and prepare that case for trial.”
The 16 competing law schools are: American University Washington College of Law; Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law; Fordham University School of Law; Loyola Law School, Los Angeles; Quinnipiac University School of Law; Samford University Cumberland School of Law; Stetson University College of Law; South Texas College of Law Houston; Temple University Beasley School of Law; UCLA School of Law; University of California Berkeley School of Law; University of Denver Sturm College of Law; University of Georgia School of Law; and University of South Carolina School of Law.
As the organizing institution, Baylor Law School will not field a team.
Sponsored by the MG+M The Law Firm, the competition begins in the evening on Wednesday, June 1, with competitors arriving for orientation and a welcome dinner. The next morning, competitors will receive their case file and the preliminary rounds will be held June 3-4. The semifinal round will take place at 9 a.m. on Sunday, June 5.
The final round will begin at 2 p.m. that day and will be streamed live at https://www.baylor.edu/law/live.