IIT Chicago-Kent to compete in the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Midwest Regional Competition

Second-year students Natalie Adeeyo, Gus Hernandez, Haley Jenkins and Mohini Lal will represent IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law in the Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Midwest Regional Competition in Indianapolis. Sponsored by the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA), the tournament will be held during the organization's regional convention February 18 to 22.

IIT Chicago-Kent will compete against law school teams from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Wisconsin and the Dakotas. The top two teams in the Midwest tournament will join ten teams from five other regions in the national finals March 11 to 15 in
Portland during NBLSA's national convention.

Team member Natalie Adeeyo graduated from New York University with a double major in journalism and English. Teammate Gus Hernandez received a degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Teammate Haley Jenkins completed her undergraduate degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Teammate Mohini Lal earned a degree in social sciences at Shimer College.

The NBLSA Mock Trial Competition, established in 2002, is named for the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Known for his work as special counsel for the NAACP in the landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice Marshall amassed an enviable trial record. As a civil rights attorney, he won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court between 1940 and 1961. As a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1961 to 1965, he made 112 rulings-none of which were reversed on certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed U.S. Solicitor General in 1965, he won 14 of the 19 cases he argued on behalf of the government. Justice Marshall was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Johnson in 1967, where he served until his retirement in 1991. He died in 1993.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, also known as Illinois Tech, a private, technology-focused, research university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, architecture, business, design, human sciences, applied technology, and law. IIT Chicago-Kent's trial advocacy teams have won numerous individual student honors and regional and national competitions. The most recent U.S. News & World Report ranked IIT Chicago-Kent's Trial Advocacy Program sixth in the country.

Related News