Chicago-Kent advances to the national finals of the 2018 Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition

The Chicago-Kent team of Annisha Arnold '20, Ashley Davidson '19, India Burton '18 and Qi Niu '18 finished in second place at the Midwest regional tournament of the 2018 Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition, held January 31 to February 2 at Saint Louis University School of Law. The team will advance to the national finals March 6 to 12 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

At the regional competition, Chicago-Kent’s team prevailed in the preliminary rounds against teams from the University of Akron School of Law and the John Marshall Law School. They faced Loyola University Chicago School of Law in the semifinals before going up against the John Marshall Law School in the final round. 

Annisha Arnold graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a B.A. degree in communication. Ashley Davidson earned a bachelor's degree in public relations and marketing from the University of Northern Iowa. India Burton majored in philosophy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Qi Niu earned a master's of law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law.

The team is coached by alumnae Adella Deacon '11, Janelle Dixon '11 and Katrice Matthews '10, who themselves represented Chicago-Kent in the national finals of this competition as law students. This is the second time in three years that these alumni have coached Chicago-Kent’s Thurgood Marshall team to advance to the national competition. In addition, alumni Dion Beatty '17, Brandi Burton '16, Ben Jacobs '17, and Marcell Taylor '12 served as guest judges to help the team prepare.

Chicago-Kent's Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial Competition team is supported by the law firm of SmithAmundsen LLC.

Sponsored by the National Black Law Students Association, the competition is named for the Honorable Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American justice appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. This the sixth time since 2010 that Chicago-Kent has advanced to the national finals.

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.