South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 2, Ed. 1, October, 2000 Page: 3 of 12
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October 2000
Amicus Brief
Page 3
"Put Me In Coach!"
By Craig E. Bohn
Business Manager
Many things about a
law school's environment
are different from an un-
dergraduate college cam-
pus. One difference is the
lack of the intercollegiate
sports teams. Though we
don't have massive line-
men and towering for-
wards treading the halls,
we do have varsity inter-
collegiate competitors.
And not unlike Notre
Dame, Nebraska and
Penn State on the gridiron,
South Texas College of
Law has a legacy for be-
ing a "powerhouse."
However, the competitive
courts we dominate are
Moot Court and Mock
Trial competitions.
As most people know,
the "Lou Holtz" of South
Texas is "Coach" Dean T.
Gerald Treece. Likewise,
people know of the advo-
cacy program he has con-
sistently grown since join-
ing the STCL faculty in
1977. But, not so well
known are some of the
details of why the pro-
gram is so successful,
earning South Texas sev-
enty-two national titles,
and brief-writing and
speaker awards too nu-
merous to count.
Moot court replicates
appellate litigation and
mock trial mimics con-
ducting a jury trial. There
are intramural and varsity
competitions that STCL
students compete in. In-
tramural competitions are
open to all students, and
the varsity teams are put
together by Dean Treece.
ting on the competitions.
Another helpful factor
adding to the advocacy
program's success is the
I,
The good ol' days of STCL's winning tradition. Dean Treece coach-
ing the 1981 champs.
process.
"All total, we attend
around thirty competitions
per year, some with mul-
tiple teams, in-
volving well
over a hundred
students per se-
mester. We
couldn't do it
without all of
our sponsors'
support.", said
Devine.
For regular
college athletics,
getting on a com-
petitive team
starts with scout-
ing trips to see
the upcoming
talent. For the
advocacy pro-
gram, the pro-
cess starts with
basic skills training in two
full semesters of Legal
Research and Writing, fol-
lowed by a multitude of
elective skills develop-
ment courses. Two
courses in particular are
intended to lead to try-
outs for the varsity teams:
Appellate Advocacy for
moot court, and Ad-
vanced Civil Litigation
(ACL), for mock trial.
Since STCL students
must first take all of their
required courses before
elective courses, full time
students can get into these
classes starting in their
third full semester. This
leaves only three semes-
See ADVOCACY, pg.ll
Ms. Shaun Devine,
Dean Treece's assistant
and veritable "right-hand"
for over ten years, says
the program owes its suc-
cess to a lot of factors.
"Since the program is en-
tirely self-funded, we rely
completely on the gener-
osity of alumni, the legal
community and the South
Texas faculty." She ex-
plained, "They provide
more than just money.
They also serve as team
coaches and judges."
Other factors include the
tireless support of profes-
sors that volunteer their
time and the Board of
Advocates, a student or-
ganization that takes on
the responsibilities of put-
school's
general cur-
riculum,
which fo-
cuses on
skill-ori-
e n t e d
courses.
Ms. Devine
said, "South
Texas stu-
dents make
great advo-
cates and
lawyers be-
cause the
school
strives to get
students as
much expo-
sure as we
can to the
lawyering
J
w
it
F su
Still bringing home the titles, Dean Treece coaching the 1999 champs.
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Palmer, Sean. South Texas College of Law Annotations (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 31, No. 2, Ed. 1, October, 2000, newspaper, October 2000; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth144542/m1/3/?q=%22Palmer%2C%20Sean%22: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting South Texas College of Law.