Northeastern Law Students Named Boston Regional Champions at American Bar Association’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition
03.01.24 —Northeastern Law third-year students Maria Lemus ’24 and Larissa Witte ’24 were named champions at the American Bar Association’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) for the Boston regional on February 22-24, 2024. Together, Lemus and Witte are one of only four teams out of 32 from the Boston regional advancing to the ABA’s national competition on April 4-6, 2024, in Philadelphia. Among the four Boston teams designated as champions, Lemus and Witte were seeded No. 1 at the close of the competition. This is the second time a Northeastern Law team has advanced to NAAC finals. The team also took the second place Best Brief Award.
“From their first practice round as second years over a year ago, I knew Maria and Larissa had the raw talent to go to nationals. They are among the strongest writers and oral advocates I’ve worked with in my legal career,” said team coach Dan Jackson ’97, executive director of Northeastern Law’s NuLawLab.
“We could not be more thrilled about this opportunity. We are grateful for our coach, our professors, our bailiff and our 2L team for volunteering so much of their time to support us in this competition. But most of all, we are grateful for each other. This experience has been one of the most difficult but most rewarding during our time in law school, and neither of us would have made it this far without the other,” said Lemus and Witte in a joint statement.
After graduating this May, Lemus will join WilmerHale in the firm’s San Francisco office and Witte will join Foley & Lardner in the firm’s Boston office.
A team of second-year Northeastern Law students, Anton Kernohan ’25, Josephine Ban ’25 and Cynthia Murphy ’25, also competed through the first three rounds of the competition with impressive scores for each of them. They were barely edged out of further contention for the elimination rounds and awards. Peter Fantozzi ’26 also participated at the competition in the role of bailiff.
About Northeastern University School of Law
The nation’s leader in experiential legal education since 1968, Northeastern University School of Law offers the longest-running, most extensive experience-based legal education program in the country. Northeastern guarantees its students unparalleled practical legal work experiences through its signature Cooperative Legal Education Program. More than 1,000 employers worldwide in a wide range of legal, government, nonprofit and business organizations participate in the program. With a focus on social justice and innovation, Northeastern University School of Law blends theory and practice, providing students with a unique set of skills and experiences to successfully practice law.
For more information, contact d.feldman@northeastern.edu