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Feature TYLA Project

How to See the Inside of the Courtroom by April
By: Erin O’Driscoll, Attorney, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Are your cases settling before trial? Do you miss that sudden surge of adrenaline as you head down to the courthouse steps? Do you want to help foster superior advocacy skills among law students? If you answered yes, TYLA is offering you the opportunity to be a part of a full blown trial—become a volunteer at the upcoming preeminent mock trial competition in Houston!

TYLA will conduct the 36th annual National Trial Competition on April 7-9, 2011 at the Harris County Civil Courthouse in Houston. TYLA hosts NTC in conjunction with the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL). NTC is the country's premier law school mock trial competition with more than 150 schools participating at the regional level during the month of February. The top two teams from each of the fourteen regions advanced to the national finals in Houston and they will compete for the championship. In addition to the country's top twenty-eight law school teams, Fellows of the ACTL will come to Houston from across the nation to volunteer as judges. The NTC committee needs your help in recruiting over two hundred lawyer and non-lawyer volunteers to testify as trial witnesses during the competition. NTC also needs your help in recruiting over one hundred lawyers to serve as judges for the competition. Come and volunteer and help to continue the tradition of making NTC the best competition in the country.

If you are interested in volunteering as a witness, please contact Anita Barksdale. If you are a licensed attorney and interested in volunteering as a judge, please contact Katy Boatman or Chike Okpara.

This year, NTC features a criminal law case problem drafted by NTC committee member Tracy Leduc of Florida. Chairs of NTC are Clint Harbour, Chike Okpara, and Erin O’Driscoll, and vice chairs are Kendall Hayden, Guigi Carminati, Donato Ramos, and Paul Tu. The TYLA committee also includes Chris Jensen, Andy Little, Dusty Stockard, Tim Williams, and Harley Caudle of Amarillo; Krista Chacona, Lisa Richardson, Zak Hall, Laura Miles-Valdez, and Thea Dalkalitsis of Austin; Anita Barksdale, Emily Blackwell, Katy Boatman, Geoff Gannaway, Adam Tabak, Stephen Walker, and Leif Olson of Houston; Cori Harbour of El Paso; Alex Johnathan Bell of Waco; Wendy Humphrey of Lubbock; Jon Jackson of Virginia; Mitch Murphy of Fort Worth; and Rosalyn Tippett and Zeke Fortenberry of Dallas. TYLA appreciates the help of all of its committee members and volunteers-we hope to see you in court!