Going National: Chicago-Kent Sends Two Teams to National Trial Competition

Two teams of Chicago-Kent College of Law students captured titles at the 2025 National Trial Competition regionals that were hosted at Chicago-Kent on February 7–9, 2025.

The national competition is co-sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the Texas Young Lawyers Association. It is considered one of the most intricate and skill-based competitions in the county because it requires each team to prepare for both sides of the problem, doubling the work needed to prepare.

This year’s fact pattern focused on two negligence claims stemming from a gruesome car accident involving a young family and a semi-truck.

Ella Youash ’26 and Samantha Lehman ’26 comprised one team, while Ivy Ramirez ’27 and Serena Napolitano ’26 made up an equally successful second team. All four students argued like well-seasoned litigators and constantly received praise from the judges and other competitors. The teams won both final rounds, beating out students from Washington University Law School, Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, and others. Napolitano and Youash also took home the Best Advocate awards in their respective categories.

Now both teams are headed to nationals as they look to bring home Chicago-Kent’s fifth National Trial Competition win. Over four decades of the National Trial Competition, at least one Chicago-Kent team has advanced to the finals 31 times, and this is the third time that Chicago-Kent has won both regional spots. Chicago-Kent last won the national competition in 2015.

The team was coached by Chicago-Kent Trial Advocacy Program Director David Erickson, Maeghann Hoal ’23, Sean Nevin ’23, and Siri Arends Graham ’22.