By Gwyneth K. Shaw
A team of UC Berkeley Law students won this year’s National Civil Trial Competition — the school’s first victory in the tournament since 2015.
3Ls William Clark, Melissa Molloy, and Angela Ma and 2L Rachel Talkington bested 15 teams from law schools around the country in the contest, which was hosted by Loyola Law School and sponsored by the Los Angeles plaintiffs’ law firm Greene Broillet & Wheeler.
The four students, all veterans of the school’s Trial Team, worked with coaches Patrick Johnson ’19 and James Perry ’11 to prepare for the competition — which involved a fictitious case centered on a nurse’s request for a service animal as a workplace accommodation to manage general anxiety disorder under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Contestants performed opening statements, direct and cross-examinations of expert and lay witnesses, closing arguments, and objections based on the Federal Rules of Evidence.
The case focused on the intricacies of ADA compliance and the hospital’s decision to modify the accommodation, which the nurse claimed was ineffective and caused their mental health and job performance to deteriorate so much that they were eventually fired.
All four students say their prior competitive experience and painstaking preparation paid huge dividends, giving them a calm and confident demeanor from the first argument.
“It was a real highlight for me to realize how much all of the front-end work we put in to prepare our case paid off,” Molloy says. “Because throughout the entire competition, I don’t think there was a single thing that really surprised us… Almost every team that we competed against got visibly frustrated and surprised about things, and we just never had that happen to us — both because we were prepared and because we had practiced being calm.
“It was really awesome to look around and think, ‘We really are the best team here. This is not a fluke.’”
Clark won the Best Advocate award for both the preliminary and the final rounds, drawing raves from the judges, who called him “incredibly likeable” and said he gave one of the best closing arguments they’d ever seen. Ma was also in the running for Best Advocate, and judges said she “walked a fine line in order to be both in charge and and likeable” and was “comfortable in the courtroom.”
Clark says that in earlier competitions, his Berkeley Law teams had put in tons of work and gotten close to winning before falling just short. It was hugely validating to break through, he adds.
“I think each of us found a calm courtroom presence that just worked, and that’s what I think carried us,” he says. “It wasn’t that we needed to learn new skills or try harder, but we needed to relax and trust ourselves.”
A thrilling experience
As the only 2L on the team, Talkington hopes to carry the positive experience into future competitions.
“It makes me excited to compete again,” she says. “And it’s encouraging to realize that if I really put in the work and prepare, that will show up on the ballots. That’s something I can really take forward with me.”
Both coaches agree that the group’s preparation set them up for a strong performance.
“They were really impressive in how much they dug in,” Johnson says. “In addition to their raw talent, I think a lot of their success at the competition was due to the hard work they put in to learn the facts cold, which allowed them to control the trial both as advocates and witnesses.”
Perry also praised the team’s ability to gain momentum, and strengthen their arguments, as the rounds went on.
“Each one of them was able to incorporate and build on increasingly difficult skills, such as matching their demeanor and presence on cross examination so as to remain in control of the witness but not appear overbearing,” he says. “Their grasp of objections and ability to articulate application was also second to none.”
Ma says the team benefited from the coaches’ different styles: Johnson is more competitive and straightforward, while Perry specializes in positive feedback.
“It was a good balance of personalities, and also they were just so clearly invested in us as trial advocates that I felt very seen and supported throughout the whole period,” she says.
Perry coached Clark and Molloy when they were 1Ls, and Clark says he not only connected with him personally this time around but also on a deeper level as he reflects on his own interior evolution as a student.
“He’s a tremendously patient and kind coach,” Clark says. “It was really cool to see that this person, who is very much a role model for me, has had a similar self-improvement journey. I see myself one day being able to provide the same thing, maybe through coaching a mock trial team or even just working with more junior associates as I become more senior.”
Lofty reputation
The chance to spend a long weekend in Los Angeles also afforded great opportunities for team bonding and even some fun outside the courtroom. Beating the team from UCLA Law, a perennial Trial Team rival, in its backyard to clinch the title felt especially sweet for both the students and coaches.
Multiple judges compared the final round to watching a triple overtime game in the playoffs.
The Trial Team — part of Berkeley Law’s Advocacy Competitions Program — has a distinguished and storied history and has surged in recent years under the leadership of head coach Spencer Pahlke ’07 and Natalie Winters ’18, who directs the advocacy program. This latest victory continues that trajectory, Perry says.
“I think this win demonstrates that not only is this specific team a tremendous force to be reckoned with, but also Berkeley Law’s Trial Advocacy Program,” he says. “The schools that competed in this competition are well known and respected for their trial advocacy programs, which ultimately shines a light on Berkeley Law’s program.”
Molloy says the team’s advantage was obvious from the earliest rounds, and that sense of success bred even greater determination as the competition went on.
“For me, it was a great example of when ‘fake it till you make it’ actually ends in you making it,” she says. “It’s a big confidence boost knowing that when you project confidence, you get the response back where people meet you at your level and they’re like, ‘Yeah, you’re really good,’ even if the only difference is the way that you’re carrying yourself.”