Stetson Law Trial Team

Congratulations to Isabella Diaco for being named a 2026 All American Advocate in Trial Advocacy!

The National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators [NALAE] selects the top advocates in their discipline from across the country based on their GPA, success at competition, and leadership & fellowship in their law school and community.

Bella is a dynamic and defining leader of our trial team. From the beginning, her commitment to excellence was evident in her work ethic, professionalism, accountability, and dedication to serving her team. Bella is the type of person who does the work when no one is watching, not for recognition, but because she expects more of herself. While her leadership alone makes her deserving of this recognition, her academic and advocacy accomplishments also speak for themselves. In her time on the team, Bella has won two national championships—Syracuse and Capital City—competed at the highest levels including NTC (where she flipped as a 2L), Summit Cup, NCTC, and the Queens DA Competition, and earned four individual awards: Best Opening, Best Direct (twice), and Best Evidence. During all of this, Bella remained dedicated to academics—serving as a member of the law review and remaining at the top of her class.

Bella is an exceptional student and an even more exceptional person who leads with integrity and generosity. She leaves Stetson not only as an outstanding advocate, but as a standard-bearer for what true leadership looks like.

Please join us in congratulating Bella on this accomplishment!

Congratulations to our two 3Ls that competed in this year’s Amicus Cup in Las Vegas! Megan DeVaney and Cam Lulich traveled to compete in their last competition, and this year’s tournament came with a twist. Teams received a new case packet only ONE hour before each round. New facts, witnesses, detailed exhibits, and even physical evidence.

Megan and Cam both did an outstanding job and advocated with incredible poise and presence under immense pressure! And special congratulations to Megan for winning a BEST ADVOCATE award!

Thank you to coaches Liz Boals and Kate Donoghue!

🏆 CHAMPIONS 🏆

Congratulations to these absolute all-stars for emerging as the CHAMPIONS of the Capital City Challenge! The team of Sarah Breland, Bella Diaco, Kaylyn Fox, and Lily Thrift put in an incredible amount of hard work in preparing for this competition and it paid off. Not only did the team win the tournament, but they brought home four individual awards! Congratulations to Sarah Breland for winning BEST OPENING, Bella Diaco for winning BEST DIRECT & BEST EVIDENCE, and Kaylyn Fox for winning BEST CLOSING!!! Thank you to American University for a great weekend!

And a huge thank you to the coaches for this team Joel Elsea, Rylie Pennell, and Amy Quezon!

SEMI-FINALISTS & OUTSTANDING ADVOCATE

Congratulations to this team for finishing as Semi-Finalists at the National Criminal Trial Competition hosted by Chapman University School of Law! Team members were Jacey Cannon, Maya Fredrich, Mia Scaglione, and Taylor Teeple. Mia also won an Outstanding Advocate award!

THANK YOU to their coaches Yara Dodin & Ashley Ward-Singleton for all of their hard work in preparing the team for competition!

FINALISTS & BEST ADVOCATE!

Rounding out the weekend, congratulations to the team who made it through *eight* rounds with three different parties to finish as FINALISTS at South Carolina’s Trials & Tribulations! The team of John Gaitens, Christopher Hewlett, Trent Hollis, Alivia Kelley, Ashley McGrath, and Emily Payne made Stetson’s first appearance at this tournament! In the final round, our team faced off against two highly competitive programs and finished in second place! Emily Payne also won a BEST ADVOCATE award!!

Thank you to their coaches Carson Sadro, Taylor Zuberer, and Sam Craig!

BEST OVERALL ADVOCATE! 👏

Please join us in congratulating this team for their incredible performance at the Dan K. Webb Advocate’s Challenge Trial Competition hosted by Loyola-Chicago! Team members Brianna Barron, Briana Bohn, Sophia Kopko, and Esteban Villaneuva traveled all the way to Chicago to face off against other top programs in the country and we are so proud of the way they represented Stetson! Brianna Barron also won the BEST OVERALL ADVOCATE award!

Thank you to their coaches Alicia Roddenberg and Anthony Stingeni!

CHAMPIONS & BEST ADVOCATE! 🏆

Congratulations to this team of outstanding 2Ls for bringing the Queens, NY District Attorney’s Office Mock Trial Competition championship back to Stetson! This tournament is exclusively for 2L competitors and these students did a great job representing Stetson and Jacob Rykiel also won the BEST ADVOCATE award!

Thank you to their coaches, Kate Donoghue, CJ Petty, and Cam Sargent!

AAJ REGIONAL CHAMPIONS 🏆

Stetson is proud to celebrate this team for bringing home the CHAMPIONSHIP at AAJ Regionals — Annapolis. Their countless hours of preparation over late nights and long weekends paid off! These powerhouse female advocates are Taylor Atkins-Lewis, Lucy Caballero-Bentley, Mary Gunter, and Belle Yeager. Join us in congratulating this team (and for bringing home the title on International Women’s Day)!

Thank you to their coaches Liz Boals, Bobbi Flowers, and William Warmke!

Wish the team good luck as they head to the national competition in New Orleans in just a few weeks!

SEMI-FINALISTS

Congratulations to these teams for their outstanding performance at the Region VI National Trial Competition!

The team of Ashley Aiken and Lauren Townsend went UNDEFEATED in the preliminary rounds against some of the toughest and most competitive programs in the country. They ended the weekend as Semi-Finalists!

Stetson’s team of Megan DeVaney, Cam Lulich, and Alyssa Raulerson also did an OUTSTANDING job representing our program with passion and professionalism! They narrowly missed the break rounds after going against some of the top ranked programs in the country.

NTC is one of the most difficult competitions of the year, being both an iron-competitor and woodshed witness competition. BOTH of these teams put in hours and hours of hard work in their preparation and we are so proud of the way they represented Stetson!

Thank you to our witnesses who helped prepare the team and traveled to the competition on behalf of Stetson to serve as woodshed witnesses: Lorenzo Collazo, Mohammed Khan, Gabe Loofe, and Jacob Ponzoli!

Thank you to all of the Trial Team scouts, woodsheds, volunteers, and guest judges who gave up their free time to help our teams prepare! And thank you to the coaches for both of these teams: Kate Donoghue, Carson Sadro, and Alec Waid!

FINALISTS & SEMI-FINALISTS

Congratulations to BOTH of our teams that competed at the Chester Bedell Mock Trial Competition this weekend!

Team White finished as the competition FINALISTS! On this team of all 2Ls (and two first time competitors) were Logan Arne, Ryan Bell, John Gaitens, and Spencer Greenwood. Spencer also won the Runner-up Best Advocate! Thank you to their coaches Judge David Demers, Dean Susan Demers, Bryan Lawlor, and Ryan Lechner!

Congratulations to Team Green who finished as SEMI-FINALISTS! Team members were Brianna Barron, Blake Carlson, Kayla Dougherty, and Anthony Lake. Thank you to their coaches John Grant and Jaime Eagan!

5th Place & BEST DIRECT!

Congratulations to these advocates at the National Civil Trial Competition. The team went 3-1 in the preliminary rounds, narrowly missing the semifinals by one point. The team of Isabella Diaco, Haven Flaherty, Trent Hollis, and Alivia Kelley finished in fifth place. Special congratulations to Isabella Diaco for winning BEST DIRECT EXAMINATION! Great job team!

Thank you to coaches Alicia Roddenberg and Carson Sadro!