2008 Woodie Awards
Law school arbitration team wins national championship
Matt McGowan
Issue date: 2/5/08 Section: News
The key to this year's success, she said, was the team members' abilities to think on their feet and adapt to the unpredictable nature of legal arbitration.
"The key to having a good team is that it's not just root memorization," Kime-Goodwin said. "They have to develop advocacy skills sufficient to be able to react to at a competition. This team, as far as their advocacy skills, they were able to get their skills down to a level where they were on a level above everybody else."
With the help of Hensley and Kime-Goodwin, the team obtained every advantage and insight necessary to win the competition, said Jesse Blakley, a law student from Missouri City and member of the team. He believes the coaching was superb in that the coaches offered good insights into the best strategies.
Effective oratory and technological presentation of information gave the team its biggest edge, he said. Also, the team's cohesion greatly added to its success.
"I think that it is really that, as long as you have a group of four people who really buy into it and work hard together," Blakley said, "then the sky is the limit."
This year's championship reflects well on the law school as a whole, said Hensley, because these competitions really help to get the school's name out there. With 200 law schools across the country vying for a spot at the nationals, a championship bodes well for the law program
"Think about that," he said. "That's a huge accomplishment. To win the national championship when you have that kind of competition - you're talking about very fine law schools with great professors and very intelligent students all across the country. It's a nice thing to say that our students came out on top."
For the individual team members, a national title indicates a preparedness for the legal profession after graduation, said Walter Huffman, dean of the law school. Competitions such as these are excellent gauges of how well students are prepared for their coming careers.
"We feel that that's why law schools should exist," he said. "When we have one of our teams demonstrate that what we are trying to accomplish at this law school is, in fact, being accomplished, it makes us all feel good about what we're doing here. It's sort of a validation, I guess."
"The key to having a good team is that it's not just root memorization," Kime-Goodwin said. "They have to develop advocacy skills sufficient to be able to react to at a competition. This team, as far as their advocacy skills, they were able to get their skills down to a level where they were on a level above everybody else."
With the help of Hensley and Kime-Goodwin, the team obtained every advantage and insight necessary to win the competition, said Jesse Blakley, a law student from Missouri City and member of the team. He believes the coaching was superb in that the coaches offered good insights into the best strategies.
Effective oratory and technological presentation of information gave the team its biggest edge, he said. Also, the team's cohesion greatly added to its success.
"I think that it is really that, as long as you have a group of four people who really buy into it and work hard together," Blakley said, "then the sky is the limit."
This year's championship reflects well on the law school as a whole, said Hensley, because these competitions really help to get the school's name out there. With 200 law schools across the country vying for a spot at the nationals, a championship bodes well for the law program
"Think about that," he said. "That's a huge accomplishment. To win the national championship when you have that kind of competition - you're talking about very fine law schools with great professors and very intelligent students all across the country. It's a nice thing to say that our students came out on top."
For the individual team members, a national title indicates a preparedness for the legal profession after graduation, said Walter Huffman, dean of the law school. Competitions such as these are excellent gauges of how well students are prepared for their coming careers.
"We feel that that's why law schools should exist," he said. "When we have one of our teams demonstrate that what we are trying to accomplish at this law school is, in fact, being accomplished, it makes us all feel good about what we're doing here. It's sort of a validation, I guess."
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Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 6
Law Alum
posted 2/05/08 @ 12:20 PM CST
Congratulations to the competitors and Tech Law! Does this make 17 national championships for the Law school in its short history? I would really like to see an article about how well the law school has been doing in these events in the last 10 years or so. (Continued…)
beverly
posted 2/05/08 @ 12:22 PM CST
This kind of thing is awesome for Tech! Way to go!
jason
posted 2/05/08 @ 8:22 PM CST
Great news!
Jeff
posted 2/06/08 @ 9:04 PM CST
Something is definitly being done right at the law school. Just another thing on a big list of things to be proud of here at Texas Tech.
Louise
posted 2/07/08 @ 1:27 PM CST
Nice. I hope we see football and chess championships before long as well.
Frank Brown
posted 2/09/08 @ 8:53 PM CST
Nice!
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