ACADEMY OF TRIAL LAWYERS
OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY

The 2025 Annual Academy Mock Trial Competition was held at the Joseph F. Weis, Jr. United States Courthouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 20th & February 21st.

​

First Place Advocate: Stavros Reynolds (Howard University School of Law)

Second Place Advocate: Celia Woodruff (Penn State Law)

 

First Place Team: William & Mary Law School

Represented by: Patrick LaBella & Sydney Brooks

 

Second Place Team: Howard University School of Law

Represented by: Stavros Reynolds & Tamiea Burnside 

 

The Competition originated in 1963 as a friendly competition between the two area law schools, Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh. Today, the Competition has flourished to include law schools from the East Coast and Midwest regions.

 

The Competition has become one of the most prestigious advocacy competitions because of several unique features. One is the involvement of Federal and Pennsylvania State Judges.  Another feature is that the competition takes place in actual Federal Courtrooms.  Each competing team is paired with a medical witness who participates as that team’s expert witness, affording them the unique opportunity to direct and cross-examine actual medical experts as part of the experience.  Each courtroom has a student court reporter from a local court reporting school and a jury of Allegheny County High School students serving as jurors, and five trial lawyer members of the Academy of Trial Lawyers.

 

The Competition includes the participation of over 150 volunteers including Academy members, federal court judges, medical witnesses, court reporters, and Allegheny County high school students. The Competition, in the words of a former participant, “offers a seamless transition from classroom to courtroom.”

​

​

​​​For information about the 2026 Academy of Mock Trial Competition, please contact the Academy of Trial Lawyers at 412.343.9266 or by email at academy@atlac.org.

​

Chairs of the 2025 Competition

A. Michael Gianantonio, Chair

Gregory Unatin, 1st Vice Chair

Brittani R. Hassen, 2nd Vice Chair

​​