By Matt Flumerfelt

The Valdosta Daily Times

LAKELAND — Lakeland resident Derrick Connell is a member of the Stetson University College of Law Mock Trial Team that recently won first place in the eighth annual National Civil Trial Competition. Started in 2002, the NCTC is universally regarded as one of the top-tier law school trial advocacy competitions in the United States, according to www.forbes.com.

Early elimination rounds of the Nov. 12-14 tournament were held inside the courtrooms at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, according to www.stetson.com. The semi-final and final rounds were argued at Loyola's Albert H. Girardi Advocacy Center.

Stetson’s trial team of, which included Connell, performed better than teams from 15 of the top-ranked advocacy programs in the country. Connell was named Best Advocate in both the preliminary and final rounds, a first for the competition, Lee Coppock, one of his team coaches, said.

Students on each four-member team were required to argue both sides of a hypothetical civil suit based on an actual case in which a law school student sued his law school for misrepresenting its accreditation status.

“We won every round that we argued,” Connell said. “Each round we alternated from defense to plaintiff, arguing a different side each time. I was what we here at Stetson call the ‘flipper,’ which means I argued both sides of the case. I had a different partner on each side. I was the closer for both the plaintiff and defense.”

As the winner, the Stetson team will receive the traveling trophy for the following year, Connell said. A small plaque with Stetson listed alongside past winners will be added to the side of the trophy, he said. The team also earned a trophy for the school, and Connell received the two Best Advocate plaques.

Connell said that State Court and Federal Court judges sat on the bench during the rounds, and some of the jurors, who scored the rounds, consisted of famed attorneys like Tom Meserrea and Thomas Girardi. The competition is set up to be as close to an actual trial as possible, Coppock said.

“I went to L.A. to win the tournament, to win as a team, to win for my school. The best advocate awards were just icing on the cake,” Connell said. “Don't get me wrong, it’s a great feeling to have won both Best Advocate awards, but it is always about the team for me, and winning a national championship for Stetson. I had amazing teammates and excellent coaches. I feel so privileged to be a part of something as great as the Stetson Trial Team.”

This is the first time Stetson has won this particular competition, Coppock said. Connell was also on the winning American Association of Justice National Trial Team last semester. Stetson’s team won both a regional in Rhode Island and then the national, beating out 264 schools from around the country in that competition. He was also on the winning Moot Court Team this past summer, he said.

Connell attributes the success of the team to the quality of his teammates.

“I have met and become close friends with such amazing people here,” he said. “When you’re in one of these competitions you have to be able to look over at your teammate and know they are truly backing you, that they are anticipating your next move and are there to help you. And that is what I have had each step of the way.”

Stetson is considered the No. 1 trial school in the country, Coppock said. It is the only law school in the nation ever to win all five national level trial competitions in one academic year.

Coppock teaches trial advocacy and advanced trial skills at Stetson. He is a mock trial fellow and responsible for Stetson’s mock trial program. He said Connell, who graduates in December, is “exceptionally” good at advocacy and has a promising legal career ahead of him.

“Most people can memorize something and deliver it, but this is different,” he said. “You’ve got to think on your feet and adjust and respond during the trial. It takes an enormous amount of preparation. To be a good trial lawyer, you’ve got to be comfortable in your skin, to stand there and look at people and talk. Derrick is unusually good at it. A lot of folks take 10 years to get the kind of experience in the courtroom that he’s already gotten, so he’s miles ahead.”

Coppock was on the mock trial team before he became a professor, he said.

“Trial advocacy is a real skill,” he said, “and we do it better than anyone in the country and we have for several years.”

The mock trial cases are set up so there are good and bad things on both sides, he said. It’s very close to what an actual trial is like. There’s never a time that there’s a sure winner. It comes down to advocacy, he said.

“I’ve tried cases and it’s very similar. The direct examination is similar, the cross examination is the same, the legal argument is the same. If you’re really good, you can make your side look way better than the other side,” he said.

Certain skills are very important in advocacy, Coppock said. Stetson has developed their own methods, a Stetson way to do it.

“Everybody doesn’t like our style, but more often than not we win, so we’re happy with the way we do it. There was a time when we won almost all the time. We don’t win all the time now, but we prepare harder, and we have developed some advocacy skills that keep us number one in the nation. Everybody tries to imitate us,” he said.

Asked what skills Stetson teaches that make them No. 1, Coppock said, “We have decided that it’s important that the jury likes you, that they believe you, that they trust you. If the jury decides they like you and believe you, they’ll find a way to buy into your argument. We work on the best way to say something, and then we say it that way, as opposed to saying, well, let’s stand up and talk to them. No, we stand up and say what we want to say and what we decided. We’re not aggressive or obnoxious. We don’t beat people up on cross examination. We approach everything as though we’re trying to influence them.”

“We obviously find good ways to characterize things. You can say the same thing several different ways. There’s a best word, and ways to phrase things, and mannerisms, and memorable lines that capture them on a personal level, and gain and maintain credibility with the jury,” he added.

Connell uses some memorable lines, Coppock said. In the recent competition, for example, he used the line, “You can lead a horse to water, but you know what you can’t make him do.” Instead of completing a line everybody knows, Connell finishes it some other way and draws the jury in, Coppock said. Asked if he advocates using lines like the famous phrase used by Johnny Cochran in the O.J. Simpson trial, Coppock said, as a matter of fact, Connell used that line in the competition, but with a slight twist.

He said, “If it doesn’t fit, you know what you’ve got to do,” and he smiled when he said that, Coppock said. Apparently, it worked this time too.