Chicago-Kent Places Second in the 2019 National Medical-Legal Trial Competition

The Chicago-Kent College of Law trial advocacy team of Breana Brill ’21, Myles Carroll ’20, and Emin Drnovsek ’21 placed second in the 2019 National Medical-Legal Trial Competition, held November 1–3 in Hempstead, N.Y. 

Brill, Carroll, and Drnovsek defeated teams from the University of South Dakota School of Law, William & Mary Law School, and Brooklyn Law School in the preliminary rounds. They prevailed against William & Mary Law School in the semifinal round before falling in the final round to a team from Campbell University Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. 

“We are extremely proud of this young team. For all three of them it was their first competition, and they performed like veterans,” says Judge David A. Erickson, director of Chicago-Kent’s Trial Advocacy Program.

Drnovsek earned an individual award for the Best Use of an Expert, and Myles Carroll was named Best Overall Advocate in the Preliminary Round. Additionally, Zucker School of Medicine student Divya Shah, who served as a Chicago-Kent’s expert, won the award for Best Expert Witness. 

Hosted by the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, the National Medical-Legal Trial Competition is the only trial advocacy competition in the country in which a medical school and a law school collaborate to simulate real-life expert testimony by doctors. A student from Zucker School of Medicine is assigned to each competing school to play the role of an expert witness and to consult on the case. 

Brill graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in professional writing and a minor in African studies. Carroll completed a B.A. in political science from Elmhurst College. Drnovsek earned a B.S. in marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

The team was coached by alumni and former Trial Advocacy Team members Natalie Adeeyo ’16, Amanda Bielinski ’13, Matthew Mc Carter ’15, and Daniel Orescanin ’19.

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 (March 2019), Chicago-Kent's Trial Advocacy Program was ranked fifth in the country.