Northwestern University School of Law took first place honors in the Midwest Regional of the American Bar Association’s Employment Law Trial Advocacy Competition – held November 15-16 at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Second place honors went to another Chicago law school: IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. Northwestern will advance to the National Finals in New Orleans on January 24-25, 2015.

Northwestern and Chicago-Kent were two of 18 teams competing from across the Midwest region, including Baylor, Indiana University, The John Marshall Law School, Southern Illinois University, University of Cincinnati, University of Mississippi, University of Missouri, Washington University and Tulane University.
The Labor and Employment Law Section of the American Bar Association sponsored the 11th annual competition with a total of 99 teams from 8 regions across the nation, including the Midwest region. Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer, of the Northern District of Illinois, judged the Finals of the Midwest Regional Competition in Chicago.  Sitting judges, prominent employment lawyers and law professors served as evaluators.    

"This competition is designed to introduce law students to the challenges and rewards of employment litigation," said Joe Tilson, Co-Founder of the ABA’s Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Chicago and Co-Chair of the Chicago law firm of Meckler Bulger Tilson Marick & Pearson LLP.  "What began just over 10 years ago as a pilot program, has since blossomed into one of the largest competitions in the country.”
“Traditionally, Illinois schools have been well-represented in our competition, with at least one school finishing first or second almost every year.  This year, both Northwestern and Chicago Kent displayed especially sophisticated trial skills – equal to many seasoned litigators,” added Tilson.