Teams from IIT Chicago-Kent Compete In AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Competition’s 2014 Regional Tournament

Pictured from left: Lucas Peters '15, Michael Glink '14, Laura Henneman '15 and Valerie Raedy '14

Pictured from left: Lucas Peters ’15, Michael Glink ’14, Laura Henneman ’15 and Valerie Raedy ’14

Two teams from IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law are competing in the American Association for Justice’s (AAJ) 2014 Student Trial Advocacy Competition’s regional tournament which ends on Sunday, March 23, 2014. IIT Chicago-Kent is competing against 14 teams from 11 law schools located in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma and Wisconsin. The winning team will join the first-place teams from 13 other regions at the national finals April 10-13, 2014 in Santa Monica, California.

Students Fariz Burhanuddin ’14, Molly Condon ’15, Rob Kohen ’14 and Laurel Martinez ’15 will compete on one team. The second IIT Chicago-Kent team will comprise Michael Glink ’14, Laura Henneman ’15, Lucas Peters ’15 and Valerie Raedy ’14.

The students will argue a hypothetical medical malpractice case involving a surgeon who operates on a 75-year-old patient to remove her gallbladder although the patient’s gallbladder had been removed 10 years earlier. The surgery leads to multiple complications that resulted in the patient’s death.

The first team is coached by IIT Chicago-Kent alumnae Michelle Truesdale ’04, Katya Manak ’10 and Betsy Schulzetenberg ’13 and adjunct professor Lance Northcutt. The second team is coached by Patricia Sudendorf, director of the LL.M. Program in Trial Advocacy for International Students; adjunct professor David Lavin; Joseph Carlasare ’12 and Jon Neuleib ’02.

Team member Burhanuddin earned his undergraduate degree in political science and international business from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Condon completed her undergraduate education at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a degree in political science and a minor in philosophy. Kohen completed his undergraduate education in sports management with high honors at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Martinez earned a degree in legal studies from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Team member Glink received a degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Henneman graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a major in journalism and a minor in political science. Peters received a degree in sociology from San Francisco State University. Raedy graduated cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in government and music from Lawrence University and Conservatory.

The American Association for Justice (formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) is a broad-based, international coalition of attorneys, law professors, paralegals and law students.

Pictured from left: Fariz Burhanuddin '14, Laurel Martinez '15, Molly Condon '15 and Rob Kohen '14

Pictured from left: Fariz Burhanuddin ’14, Laurel Martinez ’15, Molly Condon
’15 and Rob Kohen ’14

IIT Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy teams have won numerous individual student honors and regional and national competitions. The most recent U.S. News & World Report ranked IIT Chicago-Kent’s trial advocacy program sixth in the country.