The Texas Law 2022 interscholastic mock trial team was made up of Allison Rogge, Emily Ogden, and Taylor Brigance.
The Texas Law 2022 interscholastic mock trial team continued a Lawhorn tradition of outstanding achievement at the John L. Costello National Criminal Law Trial Advocacy Competition, finishing as semifinalists at the 14th annual event. The team consists of Texas Law students Taylor Brigance (3L), Emily Ogden (2L), and Allison Rogge (3L). A total of 24 teams participated in the competition, which was hosted by the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.
The Texas Law team won all of its semifinal round ballots, and was a mere 15 points short of advancing to the final round. The team defeated the University of the District of Columbia and the College of William and Mary in the preliminary rounds, the University of Houston in the quarterfinals, and Mercer University in the semifinals.
By revealing unknown facts and witnesses as the competition progresses, the Costello Competition simulates the evolving and unexpected nature of real-life criminal trials. The Texas Law team had to incorporate two new witnesses, including a cross of an expert, in between the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds with a limited preparation time of approximately 20 minutes.
The team is coached by two Texas Law alumni who participated in Costello competitions as students: Lauren Aldredge ’11 and Carl Guthrie ’17. Aldredge, who is a civil litigator at the firm Cokinos Young focusing on complex commercial litigation and trademark law, was a member of Texas Law’s national championship Costello team in 2011. Guthrie, currently the housing stability staff attorney at Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, received Texas Law’s 2017 Neimann Cup for Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy.
“Taylor, Allison and Emily all shined (at the Costello competition), and we are very proud of their accomplishments,” praised Aldredge. “They will be assets to the profession and we are lucky to have them (at Texas Law).”
A year ago, students representing Texas Law were the champions at the 13th annual John L. Costello competition, which was conducted virtually.