From left, Robson Hauser, Professor Tom Mauet, and Sean Kelly with the Jenckes Cup.

Last Friday, hosted by our good friends at ASU, Arizona Law students Robson Hauser (3L) and Sean Kelly (2L) prevailed at the 44th annual Joseph Jenckes Closing Arguments Competition.

This is our 4th straight victory in the Jenckes Competition -- the first time this has happened since the competition began in 1970 (six years after ASU's law school was founded). This streak reminds me of Wildcats Basketball's 1988-91 winning streak, when the Cats won outright or shared four straight Pac-10 titles!

UA faculty, alumni, and students sat in the audience to cheer (as allowed). It was thrilling -- a tough case involving a defendant who was tried for murder after a road rage incident turned deadly, who claimed self-defense.

Robson Hauser brought outstanding competition experience and training to the Jenckes contest. In addition to being a member of our victorious Jenckes team last year (with John Lierman '13) -- making Robson only the second Arizona Law student ever to win the Jenckes Cup two years in a row -- he was also a finalist in the Richard Grand Damages Closing Arguments Competition each of the last two years. He has received the Outstanding Oral Advocacy Award and has volunteered as a coach with the U of A's Undergraduate Mock Trial throughout his time in law school.

Robson has long aspired to a career in trial advocacy. While earning his BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, he worked summers as a team adviser for the National Student Leadership Conference in Washington, DC, helping undergraduates hone their public speaking and leadership skills, with an emphasis on trial advocacy and courtroom procedure. At USC, he participated in the collegiate Trial Advocacy Program and received the American Mock Trial Association's All-American Attorney Award.

"I'm hoping to be in court as often as possible during my career, so any time I can get practice at a competition is helpful," Robson says.

For double Wildcat Sean Kelly (BA '12), the Jenckes Closing Arguments Competition was his first-ever law student competition -- a particularly grueling one, in which each team gets just 35 minutes to argue their case.

"Competing with Robson against ASU truly was a special opportunity, because Robson was my coach in Undergraduate Mock Trial at the U of A," Sean says.

Robson, Sean, and generations of Arizona Law students have indeed been at an advantage in learning about trial advocacy from Tom Mauet, the Milton O. Riepe Professor and Director of Trial Advocacy. Modesty requires that we identify Tom as one of the world's leading authorities on trial advocacy -- but honesty requires us to note that this understates the case. Tom's many influential books include Trial Techniques and Trials, the leading text in the field, now in its 9th edition.

Robson notes, "Learning from Tom Mauet is as good as it gets. I've been using his books since I was a freshman in college, and to get to learn from him in a one-on-one setting is incredible. He was a big part of my decision to come to Arizona. I've received the best training I could have ever hoped for."

Sean says, "I cannot say enough about how much of an honor it has been to work with Professor Mauet in preparation for this competition. Not to sound clich�, but he literally 'wrote the book' on trial advocacy. Receiving personal guidance from him in this competition has been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The Jenckes contest is named for the late Joseph S. Jenckes ('61), an alum and prominent Phoenix attorney who was a fellow of the Arizona Chapter of the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL), which sponsors the competition. The judges are members of ACTL's Arizona Chapter.

We are working on compiling a list of all the Jenckes competitors. Did you compete in the Jenckes? If so, let us know. 

Congratulations to Robson, Sean, and Tom, and all students and lawyers who compete or work with the team.