DePalma '06 Takes Top Honors at Michigan State Trial Tournament
Third-year law student Nick DePalma was awarded Best Overall Advocate award and the William & Mary Trial Team finished as a semi-finalist in the highly competitive Michigan State Trial Tournament earlier this month.
It was the first time a William & Mary law student had received the tournament's top honor and the highest overall finish for the trial team. Third-year law student Aimee Byrne also received the Best Opening Statement award.
"We've been trying to take our team to the next level for the past few years, and it's nice to finally see our effort coming to fruition," said DePalma, who competes on the team with third-year law students Byrne, Lee Kaufman and Emily Jones. "The people who really deserve the thanks for these awards are my teammates and our coach, Jeffrey Breit. Emily and Lee did the lion's share of the work during the competition, and Jeff has spent the past two years developing us into competitive advocates. The Best Overall Advocate award is as much theirs as mine."
The William & Mary team was one of 18 teams competing in the national tournament and competed against teams from campuses across the country such as Florida State University, Georgia State and Fordham. The William & Mary trial team lost narrowly to Catholic University in the semi-final round. The trial team from Southern Methodist University finished in first place.