Courtroom-Ready Preparation
Preparing law students to become courtroom-ready advocates is the cornerstone of Villanova Law’s Trial Advocacy program. Through comprehensive coursework and competition experience, you will learn the essential elements of trial practice: fact analysis, pretrial case preparation, persuasive speech, witness examination and evidence.
Each class takes place in one of our five state-of-the-art courtroom-style classrooms, and every course takes a performance-based, learn-by-doing approach. Seasoned attorneys and experienced court judges will work with you and challenge you to think, communicate and perform like a trial lawyer.
During the 2016 – 2017 academic year, Villanova Law students excelled in the trial advocacy arena. Sarah Burke ’18 and Kaitlyn Macaulay ’18 took first place at the 2016 John J. Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition, held at Seton Hall University School of Law. They beat out 43 teams from 40 law schools in the competition, which focuses on timely issues of criminal procedure and criminal law. Additionally, Jason Kaner ’19, Eric Galko ’17 and Jack Sexton ’19, competed in and won the 3rd Annual Tulane Professional Football Negotiation Competition. The competition provided participants with the opportunity to sharpen their negotiation skills as well as their knowledge of NFL contracts.
Remarking on his trial advocacy experience at Villanova, Steven Patton '15 said, "The skills I learned on the Trial Team prepared me well for a career as an Assistant District Attorney. With coaches who work as prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys and litigators in Philadelphia's largest law firms, the Trial Team prepares students to go toe-to-toe with the best trial attorneys in the region."
Click here to learn more about trial advocacy and other experiential learning opportunities at Villanova Law.
