Chicago-Kent College of Law has been invited to compete in the National Institute of Trial Advocacy’s Tournament of Champions taking place Oct. 28-31 at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Chicago-Kent students Jeremiah Lewellen, Damien Clark, Charles Prochaska and Julie Levinson.
This is the third consecutive year and the eighth time in the history of the competition that Chicago-Kent has been invited to participate.
The Tournament of Champions is one of the most prestigious law school trial competitions in the country. Teams from only 16 of the nation’s nearly 200 law schools are invited to participate in the annual event.
Invitations to the Tournament of Champions are based on a three-year performance record at the National Trial Competition, the American Trial Lawyers Association’s National Student Trial Advocacy Competition, and prior Tournament of Champions competitions.
“Our program has earned the recognition necessary to be included in this excellent group of law schools,” said David A. Erickson, retired Illinois Appellate Court Justice and associate director of the law school’s Trial Advocacy Program.
Damien Clark, Julie Levinson, Jeremiah Lewellen and Charles Prochaska will represent Chicago-Kent in the Tournament of Champions.
The team will be coached by Erickson, along with retired attorney George Domas ’82, who was a member of Chicago-Kent’s first trial advocacy team; adjunct professors Margaret Firnstein ’99, James McKay ’85 and David Lavin; and Keya Rajput Milla ’07, a member of the National Trial Competition’s 2007 championship team and winner of that competition’s Best Advocate award.
Third-year student Damien Clark earned his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Chicago. Teammates Julie Levinson, Jeremiah Lewellen and Charles Prochaska all are graduates of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Levinson, a second-year student, graduated magna cum laude with a degree in speech communication with a concentration in psychology. Lewellen, also a second-year student, earned a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in English. Teammate Prochaska is a third-year student who received his undergraduate degree in political science with a minor in history.
Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.
Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy teams have won numerous individual student honors and regional and national competitions, including the 1988, 2007 and 2008 National Trial Competition championships.
In 2008, Chicago-Kent became the first law school to win both the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year.
In 2009, Chicago-Kent successfully defended its championship in the National Moot Court Competition. In addition, U.S. News and World Report this year ranked Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy program among the top five in the country.
