Ryan Nolte named Best Oral Advocate in the 2011 National Trial Competition

IIT Chicago-Kent student Ryan Nolte '11 has been named the Best Oral Advocate in the 2011 National Trial Competition, and he and teammate Rachel Remke '12 were finalists in the overall competition. The premier trial advocacy tournament in the nation was held April 6 to 10 in Houston, Texas.

Nolte and Remke beat teams from Texas Tech, Stanford, Fordham, Kentucky and Charlotte before they were narrowly defeated by a team from Northwestern, by a score of 11 to 10, in the final round of the competition. The students argued Lone Star v. Lisa Richardson, a hypothetical criminal case in which the defendant was charged with attempted first-degree murder of a sitting judge.

"Congratulations to Ryan, Rachel and their coaches for a superb showing," said Chicago-Kent Dean Harold J. Krent. "Once again our student competitors have demonstrated why Chicago-Kent's trial ad program ranks among the finest in the country."

Best Oral Advocate Ryan Nolte, a third-year student, graduated with departmental honors from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and criminal justice and a minor in sociology. Nolte was a member of the Chicago-Kent team that finished second in the 2010 Buffalo-Niagara National Mock Trial Competition, winning that tournament's Best Oral Advocate award.

Teammate Rachel Remke, a second-year student, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a double major in political science and psychology. Remke was a member of the Chicago-Kent team that won the National Institute for Trial Advocacy's 2010 Tournament of Champions, the nation's most prestigious invitational tournament.

The Chicago-Kent team is coached by retired Illinois Appellate Court Justice David A. Erickson, director of the law school's trial advocacy program; Sulema Medrano '09 of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office; Rachel Moran '08 of the Office of the State Appellate Defender; David M. Lavin of the Chicago law firm of Field and Goldberg; and Illinois Department of Employment Security administrative law judge Hon. George Domas '82, who was a member of Chicago-Kent's first trial advocacy team. Joseph Carlasare '12, Julie Levinson '11, Jeremiah Lewellen '11 and Jennifer Rexroat '12 served as student coaches.

More than 750 law students from nearly 300 teams representing 147 U.S. law schools participate in the annual competition, which is sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers, the American Bar Association and the Texas Young Lawyers Association.

Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law. Chicago-Kent's trial advocacy teams have won numerous individual student honors and regional and national competitions, including the 1988, 2007 and 2008 National Trial Competition championships. In 2008, Chicago-Kent became the first law school to win both the National Trial Competition and the National Moot Court Competition in the same year.