Society of Advocates - William S. Boyd School of Law

Save the date! We are currently in the process of planning our annual CCBA Moot Court Competition in partnership with the Clark County Bar Association! The competition will be conducted virtually via Zoom and it is centered around the Fourth Amendment. We are excited to see what our students can do. The final round will be open for viewing, more details to come!

Please join us in congratulating the incoming Society of Advocates Executive Board for the 2021–2022 school year!

President: Ashley Schobert

Vice Presidents: Madyson Hinkel & Jessica Phipps

Frank A. Schreck Gaming Law Competition Chair: Alexandra Russell

Mock Trial Chair: Danielle Ford

We are excited for these women and are confident that they will continue SOA's tradition of excellence!

Congratulations to Dani Ford (2L) and Jamie Leavitt (2L), for their outstanding performance in the National Trial Competition (NTC) hosted by Texas Young Lawyers Association! Dani and Jamie finished the competition as finalists this year. Thank you for representing the Society of Advocates and Boyd School of Law so well! 👏

Please join us in congratulating the winners of this weekend's NJA Mock Trial Competition!

First Place:
Kaitlin McCormick-Huhn
Terra Shepard
Valarie Kuschel
Caitlan McMasters

Second Place:
Della Lyle
Colleen Craig Freedman
Michael Goutsaliouk
Servando Martinez

Third Place:
Priscila Venzor
Roland Brunner
Serena Ruedas
Christian Hanks

Fourth Place:
Alex Ballard
Nicole Walsh
Alix Goldstein
Shaelyn Dieter

In addition to the winners, please join us in congratulating the six best individual competitors who were invited to join the Society of Advocates' Mock Trial Team:

Robert Lemus
Samuel Holt
Serena Ruedas
Della Lyle
Millie Mummery
Christian Hanks

Robert Lemus received the highest individual score in the competition and won Best Overall Advocate and Best Closing Argument. Millie Mummery won the Best Opening Statement

Thank you to NJA for its support and to Justice Stiglich, Judge Bonnie Bulla, and Judge Andrew Gordon for judging the final round on Saturday

Attention 1Ls! The sign-up sheets for the 1L NJA Trial Advocacy Competition are now LIVE!

The NJA Trial Advocacy Competition is coming up next month. This is a great opportunity to learn how to conduct a trial, meet local judges and attorneys in the legal community, and of course, GAIN MEMBERSHIP TO SOCIETY OF ADVOCATES!

How to sign-up:
1. Add course on TWEN: “Nevada Justice Association Trial Advocacy Competition”
2. Click the “Sign-Up Sheets” tab on the menu.
3. Click “2021 NJA Trial Advocacy Competition”
4. All FOUR of your teammates will have to sign-up individually, under the same team number (if you cannot find a full team, please let us know and we can try and assist you.)

How to access the Case Materials:
1. Click “Course Materials” on the menu.
2. Click “Competition Case File - Walton v. BNN”

If you have any questions regarding the case materials:
1. Click “Forums” on the menu.
2. Click “2021 Competition Questions.”
3. Click “Add Topic.”
4. Post question in the discussion forum.
5. Check back and I will reply to each question on the forum so everyone receives the same answer.

If you have any troubles, please do not hesitate to reach out to our mock trial chair, Trisha Delos Santos, at [email protected]

Society of Advocates would like to graciously thank Eglet Adams for its generosity and sponsorship for the SOA Mock Trial team. For the second year in a row, Eglet Adams has sponsored the Mock Trial team's competition and travel expenses. This year, thanks to the Eglet Adams' donation, our mock trial team was able to expand to twelve members, and those twelve students will compete in various competitions this Spring! Thank you Robert and Tracy Eglet, Robert Adams, and the entire Eglet Adams team for your continuing support of SOA's Mock Trial Team!

Eglet Adams is a well-respected civil litigation team handling catastrophic injury cases here in Las Vegas. If you would like to learn more about their firm, here is a link to the firm's website: https://www.egletlaw.com/

Congratulations to the new members of Boyd's Moot Court team! Welcome to the Society of Advocates. We are confident you will represent Boyd well! Jessica Phipps Azra Özdemir Bradley Combs Ashley Schobert Theresa Thibeau Cecilia Diaz Madeleine Coles Nina Hebibović Alex Russell Dianna Sauceda Donnie Graham Reese Levins

Members of the Society of Advocates Executive Board (and Professor Lambrose) held their first meeting of the 2020-2021 academic year today! Everyone is excited to meet the rising SoA 2Ls when they are all announced.

Today our Mock Trial team held online auditions to invite one 2L student to join the team. We would like to thank all students who participated. The judges were very impressed with everyone's performances and preparation! We are so excited to welcome Elizabeth Turner to the Mock Trial team! We can't wait to see all of the incredible things you do this upcoming year. Congratulations Elizabeth!

Announcing the Franny Forsman Excellence in Advocacy Award Recipient:

Each year, the Society of Advocates gives the Franny Forsman Award for Excellence in Advocacy to a graduating student who is an outstanding advocate at Boyd. The recipient is a member of the Society of Advocates who exemplifies outstanding performance in their competitions, is dedicated to the Society of Advocates, and is committed to helping other students with their advocacy skills.

Franny Forsman was selected as the namesake because of her dedication to zealous advocacy and the countless hours she has spent teaching students at the Boyd School of Law. Ms. Forsman is a former federal public defender who has argued numerous cases in Nevada. She even has argued in front of the SCOTUS, drawing a compliment from Justice Stevens during the proceedings. Because of her impressive advocacy skills, she has been the honoree of many national and local awards over the years. Franny Forsman embodies every trait that students should strive to obtain: she is hard working, dedicated, fiercely intelligent, ethical, professional, friendly, knowledgeable of the law, and committed to helping the community.

This year’s recipient is Zach Meyer. Zach is one of this year’s Vice Presidents on SOA and a member of both the moot court and mock trial teams. In mock trial, Zach was a quarterfinalist at the 2020 National Trial Competition. And last year in moot court, Zach advanced to the quarter-finals of the Thurgood Marshall Moot Court Competition. Zach has shown a dedication to the team and to students by consistently helping Boyd students, both as a Teaching Assistant and a mentor. Congratulations Zach!

Announcing the Society of Advocates Robert Eglet Outstanding Advocate Award Recipient:

This year, the Society of Advocates is giving a new award, the Robert Eglet Outstanding Advocate Award, to a graduating member of the mock trial team who has shown competitive success in mock trial and dedication to the team.

The Society of Advocates chose to name this award after Robert Eglet for his dedication to the community and support of Boyd students. Mr. Eglet heads the trial team at his firm and is lead trial counsel on all cases. He is a highly-respected, highly-awarded, and excellent trial attorney in Nevada, and emulates outstanding advocacy skills that our students hope to embody. He fervently represents clients and causes against any odd. Mr. Eglet is also a dedicated supporter of the law school—offering his time, providing his law firm’s offices for some of our competitions, and giving generous donations that make our program possible.

The first ever recipient of the award is Mary Huggins. Mary is this year’s Mock Trial Chair on SOA and a member of the mock trial team. As one of the first members to qualify for the team, Mary has shown dedication to building the program and mentoring new members of the team. During her time at Boyd, Mary was a quarterfinalist at the National Trial Competition and took second place at Boyd’s NJA Trial Advocacy Competition her 1L year. Mary also competed on the national BLSA Mock Trial team and coached the national qualifying BLSA team the next year. Congratulations Mary!