On March 19-22nd, 2015, our attorney, Nicholas Primrose, had two teams competing at the prestigious American Association for Justice Student Trial Advocacy Competition for Barry University, School of Law Trial Team. One group of students competed at the Ft. Lauderdale regional and the other at the Atlanta regional. Each regional hosted 16 teams competing from law schools across Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Virginia. Both teams had very great results, advancing out of the preliminary rounds.
This case packet involved a products liability claim where a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle. The claim was that the auto manufacturer created a dangerous product by allowing text messages to be read while driving, causing the driver to be distracted by the technology.
The Ft. Lauderdale team was made up of advocates, Luis Herrera and Jaime Smeriglio (3Ls), and witnesses, Niki Metzgar-Schall and Will Sepulveda (1Ls) (pictured to the left). This team swept the preliminary rounds going 3-0, beating Stetson, Florida Coastal, and Miami Law School, while winning all of the available ballots. They were the #2 seed going into semifinals. The fought a hard battle against Florida State, but unfortunately did not advance. Co-coaches, Denise Beamer and Jordan Ostroff, traveled with the Ft. Lauderdale team.
The Atlanta team was almost entirely new advocates, with only one student having competed before. The team of Andrew Abreu (1L), Mary Arias (1L), Carsandra Dixon (1L), and Anthony Evans (2L) went 2-1 in the preliminary rounds, winning 4 of 6 ballots. They were the #3 seed going into semifinals, were they defeated Alabama, the only team they lost to in the preliminary rounds. In the finals, they faced Georgia State. Andrew Abreu and Mary Arias advocated in a very tough championship round and lost 2 ballots to 1. Each ballot was decided by only 1 point. Pictured to the right is the Atlanta team with their Regional Runner-Up plaque.
This is the third competition Mr. Primrose has coached for the Barry Trial Team during this academic calendar. He coached the ABA/Quinnipiac Criminal Mock Trial Competition in the fall, the Florida Bar Chester Bedell Competition in January. Both Barry teams advanced in that competition, with Barry winning the competition for the first time in the history of the school. We are extremely proud of the coaching Mr. Primrose does and it is a great representation of his commitment to giving back and helping mentor the future lawyers, along with his skills as a trial lawyer.