Cooley team makes it to semi-finals of National Pretrial Competition

WMU-Cooley Law School’s Pretrial Competition team finished in the top four during the National Pretrial Competition at Stetson University College of Law in Tampa, Florida, Oct. 12-15.  WMU-Cooley students Carrie Trimpe  and  Mary Ann Simmering  from the Grand Rapids campus, and Andrea Randall Bilabaye, and Geofrey Bilabaye from the Lansing campus earned positions on the law school’s team early this year.

The competition included scores for writing two trial briefs opposing or supporting a Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss a complaint, oral argument in federal trial court on the motion, and an evidentiary hearing in federal court.

During the semi-finals round WMU faced off against the team from Baylor, and the Mississippi College of Law went up against Texas Tech. Texas Tech and Baylor finished as the competition’s finalists.

Other teams participating in the competition included Chapman University, Chicago Kent College of Law, Law School at Pace University, George Mason University, Georgetown University Law Center, Golden Gate University School of Law, Nova Southeastern University, Regent University School of Law, University of Buffalo, University of Missouri–Kansas City, and University of South Dakota.

WMU-Cooley’s Pretrial Competition team is coached by Associate Dean Christine Church and Professor Tonya Krause-Phelan.