Cooley Duo Wins National Trial Competition Regional

Lansing, Michigan — Cooley Law School students Shelly Small and Kevin Peterson are the new 6th Circuit Regional Champions for the National Trial Competition.

The regionals for the competition were held at Cooley Feb. 11-13 in the law school's state-of-the-art courtroom complex and at Veteran's Memorial Courthouse across the street from Cooley.

Twenty four teams from 12 schools in the region competed for the top honors. A second Cooley team, comprised of students Michael Douglas and Tasha James, made it to the quarter-finals where they were topped by eventual finalist, Akron.

Small and Peterson, shown, left to right with the Hon. Richard Suhrheinrich, defeated perennial favorite Kentucky in the semi-final round, then went on to beat the Akron team 3-0 in the final round to be named regional champs.

Peterson and Small will now prepare a new case for the national competition in Texas in March.

The competition is sponsored by the Texas Young Lawyers Association and the American College of Trial Lawyers. Over 100 local lawyers and judges served as judges and evaluators for the competition, and nearly 200 law students served as witnesses for the trials. Students Ryan Friebele and Lynda Sangmore handled all of the witness arrangements and training, and members of the Mock Trial Board served as bailiffs and runners.

Judge Richard Suhrheinrich, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, presided at the final round of competition in Cooley's main courtroom, Sunday Feb. 13.

The Cooley teams were coached by Trial Workshop Instructor Peggy Rostorfer, who has had teams in the finals for the last three years.

Founded in 1972, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country. Cooley has the second-largest enrollment of African-American students of any law school and the highest number of minorities overall in the United States. Cooley has three campuses across Michigan; its main campus in downtown Lansing, its downtown Grand Rapids/Western Michigan University campus in west Michigan, and its Rochester/Oakland University campus in southeast Michigan. In addition to the J.D. program, students at Cooley can also pursue a joint MPA/JD degree or an LL.M. in Tax or in Intellectual Property.