The 2015 AAJ Law School Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC) was written by EndDD.org’s Joel Feldman and Larry Coben of Anapol Schwartz. STAC is the largest mock trial advocacy competition in the country with more than 150 law schools competing.
This year’s case is a products liability action against a car manufacturer whose new vehicles contained a factory installed voice-to-text system that allowed drivers to read and compose texts while driving using their voices and not their fingers. The system was advertised as allowing drivers to always stay connected and to have taken the dangers out of texting while driving. The problem focused on whether hands-free systems were truly risk free. Does the cognitive work- load involved in even hands-free systems constitute a dangerous distraction for drivers thus, rendering the vehicle defective in its design and the maufacturer liable for the crash?
Regional competitions were held from March 19-22 in 14 locations across the country.
EndDD’s Joel Feldman was present and served as a judge for the regional trials in Washington, D.C. “I was very impressed by the students in the regional finals. They were well-prepared, rarely looked at notes and hit the most important parts of the case. Given the proliferation of complex technology in new cars I expect that the competition will, unfortunately, be a precursor to real cases in which consumers are injured or killed.”
The regional finals in Washington, D.C. pitted the University of Richmond School of Law against George Mason University School of Law . George Mason was the winning team and will joining the other 13 winning teams from each region will advance at the national finals in Pittsburgh, Pa. from April 16-19, 2015.
