Chicago-Kent Team Wins Medical Trial Advocacy Competition
A team from Chicago-Kent College of Law emerged as winners of the National Medical-Legal Trial Competition hosted by the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell in Hempstead, New York, in November 2024.
John Travlos ’26 and Ella Youash ’26 acted as the plaintiff team, while Ivy Ramirez ’27 and Samantha Lehman ’26 made up the defense team. It was the first competition for all four students. They lost only two ballots in the entire competition and won the final round.
This year’s case involved complex medical legal issues surrounding an intense two-week boot camp, prescriptions medications, the illegal drug MDMA, and the medical condition known as rhabdomyolysis. Chicago-Kent, along with 15 other schools, competed in four preliminary rounds, followed by the semifinals and finals.
The team was coached by alumni Maeghann Hoal ’23 and Maddie Fontenot ’23 and supervised by Teaching Professor David Erickson, the director of Chicago-Kent’s Trial Advocacy program.
In addition to winning the competition, the group had the added bonus of being judged by New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan M. Merchan, who has been featured in the media heavily over the past year for his role presiding over the trial of United States President Donald J. Trump in his New York criminal case.
Photo: Members of the Chicago-Kent trial advocacy team pose with Judge Merchan. [provided]
