Darrius Culpepper, 3L, Maya Hoyt, 2L, Florence Thompson, 3L, and Alex Williams, 2L, competed against 13 other teams from across the southeast during the National Black Law Students Association’s Southern Regional Competition held at The University of Memphis School of Law.
The students advanced to the quarterfinal round of the tournament and defeated the highest seeded team from preliminary rounds, The University of South Carolina. Alabama then advanced to the semifinals and competed against a strong team from Campbell University’s law school. Although they did not advance to the final round of the regional meet, the team earned enough points to place third in the overall competition and secured a place in the Constance Baker Motley Mock Trial National Competition.
Prior to the regional competition, three of the four students had never competed in trial advocacy competitions at the law school level. Thompson, the lone veteran of the competition, served as team captain. All four advocates showed tremendous skill at the tournament and immense dedication by working on the problem over the past five months.
The competitors were coached by Kayleigh Mohler (‘16) and Justin Jones (‘12). The team will travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, in March to compete against 17 teams in the National Competition.