Advocacy Program Enjoys Unprecedented Success

Texas Law’s nationally recognized Advocacy Program reached new heights in 2025-26, earning consistent success and multiple wins, including four consecutive national tournament titles in the fall. Advocacy teams competed in more than 20 mock trial and moot court competitions, with one team traveling internationally to Austria. These competitions give students opportunities to bridge theory and practice while developing advocacy skills, confidence, and professional presence.

It was amazing to have a front-row seat to our students’ unprecedented success this year.

Director of Advocacy Mike Golden

“It was amazing to have a front-row seat to our students’ unprecedented success this year,” says Director of Advocacy Mike Golden. “Winning our first four mock trial tournaments of the fall is a feat that may never be repeated—here or at any other law school—but more important than the wins are what they mean: Texas Law students are honing their advocacy skills to the highest of levels so that they can bring those skills to bear for their clients starting from day one of their legal careers.”

Top performances from the year are highlighted below.

Texas Law’s mock trial team won the TEX-ABOTA (American Board of Trial Advocates) Best in Texas Voir Dire Competition, an advocacy simulation focused on jury selection skills. The competition is jointly run by law schools across the state and recruits hundreds of local citizens to serve as jurors; this year it was held in Lubbock, Texas. The presiding judge in the final round was ABOTA national president and Texas Law alumna Jennifer Doan ’89.

The team—consisting of 3Ls Tyler Merkley and Jack Rabinowitz and 2L J.D. Newman—won six rounds over three days to take top honors. David Henderson ’01, a partner at Ellwanger & Henderson and adjunct professor at Texas Law, and Brian Pounds, an associate at that firm, coached the team.  

The team’s success was featured in a story in the Texas Bar Journal.

Texas Law’s team captured the exclusive Summit Cup, a by-invitation mock trial competition hosted by the University of Denver. The event features 12 teams that won major tournaments during the prior academic year.

Texas Law went undefeated in all five rounds of the Summit Cup, besting teams from some of the country’s elite law schools. Team members were 2Ls Drew Ashlock, Josianne Alwardi, and Bhavana Ravala, as well as 3Ls Emily Layton and Aleyna Young. Emily Ogden ’23 and Jay Ellwanger ’01 served as alumni coaches. 

Texas Law students made history at The White Collar Crime Invitational, winning the competition for the fourth consecutive year—an unprecedented achievement. The competition, hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center Barristers’ Council, features federal criminal mock trial focused on issues in the corporate-professional sector. The Lawhorns team took top honors for the fourth consecutive year, a feat never before accomplished in the event’s history. Student advocates representing 15 law schools conduct both the direct and cross examination of a witness and present either the opening statement or the closing argument of the case. A judge and a “jury” of experienced trial attorneys evaluate advocates on their professionalism in making objections and handling exhibits.

Team members were 2Ls Josianne Alwardi, Nickoli Benkert, and Michael Blaine, and 3Ls Raychel Polk and Cortez Walters. Coaches were Kiera Lee Kliday ’15 and Rob Drummond ’02 of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, and Keith Henneke ’07, assistant United States attorney at the Western District of Texas.

Texas Law won the eighth annual MLK Jr. National Civil Rights Trial Competition hosted by UC Davis Law and featured student advocates from 15 top law schools from across the country. The invitational focuses on civil rights and Fourth Amendment issues.

Team members were 2Ls Anran Wang, Ahryn Hancock, Jason Park, and Meera Sam, and 3L Joseph Holden. Coaches were Liliana Jayme ’22 and Roshni Mahendru ’23.

Texas Law students are honing their advocacy skills to the highest of levels so that they can bring those skills to bear for their clients starting from day one of their legal careers.

Director of Advocacy Mike Golden

Spring Highlights

Texas Law took home the championship of the Elliott Cup, a moot court in bankruptcy law sponsored by the Texas Bar Bankruptcy Law Section for invited teams throughout the Fifth Circuit’s geographic footprint. For Texas Law, 3Ls Elizabeth Martin and Michael Camp were the winning advocates, and 3L Allison Silverman was their brief writer. 2Ls Nahom Tulu and Evan Mueller rounded out the team. The team is coached by a group led by Debbie Langehennig ’88.

Texas Law’s team went on to compete in the 34th Annual Conrad Duberstein National Bankruptcy Moot Court Competition in New York March 1-2.

First held in 1980, the American Association for Justice Student Trial Advocacy Competition, which features a civil personal injury trial, is the second-largest mock trial competition in the country. Texas Law took top honors at the 18-team Houston regional competition for the second consecutive year, earning the right to advance to the national event.

The team was comprised of 2L Michael Blaine and 3Ls Tyler Merkley, Raychel Polk, and Jack Rabinowitz.  Coaches were Sharon Baxter and Ryan Ziminskas ’20. The AAJ National Finals were held March 26-29 in New Orleans.

The Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition is jointly sponsored by Texas Law and a local host school, which this year was the University of Charleston Law School. In this national appellate advocacy competition, each team develops a brief for either the petitioner or the respondent in a hypothetical maritime legal case. This year’s case involved passengers suing a cruise line.

Texas Law’s petitioner team of 3L Riley Anderson, 2L Rose Kresta, and 2L Anran Wang—competing against 28 other teams—finished as national semifinalists. Coaches were David Campbell ’08, with assistance from Nicole Cordoba ’17, as well as Audrey Blount at the competition.

At the final moot court competition of the academic year, Texas Law’s team finished as national finalists at the Giles S. Rich Memorial Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition. By reaching the finals, the team of 2Ls Amelie Trieu and Nickoli Benkert had the opportunity to argue their case in the Federal Circuit courtroom before sitting Federal Circuit judges. They also were awarded Best Brief at the national competition.

The competition is named for the late Honorable Giles Sutherland Rich, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Trieu and Bernkert qualified for the national event based on their finalist finish at the regional competition in Houston March 13-14, 2026. Coaches were Peter McCabe and John Williams ’19.

Annual Advocacy Awards

Each year, the advocacy program presents four individual awards to top graduating students at the annual Board of Advocates banquet and celebration, which was held April 16, 2026.  The following honors were presented to Class of 2026 students:

• Raychel Polk and Aleyna Young were awarded the Niemann Cup, which represents the overall best student advocates in the graduating class. Polk was on the Georgetown White Collar Crime Invitational championship team and was selected as Best Advocate in the final round. She also helped the AAJ Student Trial Advocacy team to a regional title and was runner-up for Best Advocate. Young was a member of the team that won the Summit Cup national title in the fall and the team that was a Region 10 finalist in the TYLA (Texas Young Lawyers Association) National Trial Competition. 
• Tyler Merkley and Jack Rabinowitz captured the International Academy of Trial Lawyers Mock Trial Award, which goes to the top mock trial students. The 3Ls were on the TEX-ABOTA Best in Texas Voir Dire championship team and the AAJ Student Trial Advocacy regional championship team. 
• Chloe Cropper received the Justice Mack Kidd Outstanding Senior Appellate Advocacy Award. This year she was a member of the Jessup International Law Moot Court team.
• Elizabeth Martin won the State Bar of Texas Appellate Section Award for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy. Martin was on the Elliott Cup championship team and also participated in the Duberstein competition.

In addition, 13 students received Advocacy Program scholarships and 12 students were inducted into the 2026 Order of Barristers, a national honorary organization that encourages oral advocacy and brief writing skills.