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

Chicago-Kent College of Law at Illinois Tech will enter the 2016 Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Midwest Regional Competition February 16 to 21 as the defending champion.

This year, the team of Dion Beatty '17, Brandi Burton '16, Benjamin Jacobs '17 and Whitney Williams '16 will represent Chicago-Kent. The team is coached by alumnae Adella Deacon '11, Janelle Dixon '11 and Katrice Matthews '10. Deacon and Dixon were members of the Chicago-Kent team that won the 2011 Midwest regional tournament.

Last year, the Chicago-Kent team of Natalie Adeeyo '16, Gus Hernandez '16, Haley Jenkins '16 and Mohini Lal '16 won the 2015 Midwest tournament and advanced to the national finals.

Sponsored by the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA), the tournament will be held in Chicago during the organization's 2016 regional convention. 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 three teams in the Midwest tournament will join 15 teams from five other regions in the national finals March 9 to 13 in Baltimore during NBLSA's national convention.

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.

Chicago-Kent's trial advocacy teams have won numerous individual student honors and regional and national competitions. In the most recent U.S. News & World Report graduate school rankings, Chicago-Kent's Trial Advocacy Program is ranked fourth in the country.