Published on September 24, 2025 by Morgan Black
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Samford University Cumberland School of Law’s national trial team traveled to Philadelphia for the prestigious Battle of the Experts mock trial competition and finished as the national finalist.
This unique competition, staged Sept. 19-21, showcased the critical role of expert witnesses in litigation. Only 10 of the top trial advocacy schools in the country were invited to the event, during which students direct and cross-examine professionals from a wide range of fields. This year’s mock trial featured a civil case in which a 14-year-old football player was injured because of running a play known as the quarterback sneak push or “tush push.” The parents of the child claimed the injury was the result of the high school’s negligence in deciding to run the play. Both sides featured experts in sports medicine and neurosurgery.
Following preliminary rounds, Cumberland’s team of third-year students Melina Lettieri, Grace Grosenbach, Lauren Golsten and Allison Jordan, earned the No. 3 seed in the tournament. They defeated Fordham in the semifinals before narrowly losing to UCLA in the final round. This is the second year in a row in which a Cumberland team finished the tournament as the national finalist. Cumberland has made the semifinals five times and reached the championship round three times at Battle of the Experts in its eight-year history, including winning the inaugural championship.
The team was coached by alumni of Cumberland’s advocacy program including Curtis Seal, JD ’17, Walt Cobb, JD ’19, and Elise Driskill, JD ’23.
“Battle of the Experts is one of the toughest competitions in the country,” Cobb said. “There are no easy paths to victory and every team in this competition comes from a nationally recognized trial program. We are so incredibly proud of our students and the way they competed this past weekend. Their success is an incredible testament to their talent and work ethic.”
Judge Jim Roberts, JD ’94, is the co-director of advocacy programs and director of National Trial Teams at Cumberland School of Law. “I am incredibly proud of our students and coaches for the Battle of the Experts team,” Roberts said. “Our coaches did a magnificent job preparing our students for this difficult competition. Our students were tremendous advocates and represented our school and our program with the utmost professionalism.”
Cumberland School of Law is ranked No. 4 in the nation for trial advocacy by U.S. News & World Report and No. 2 in the national Gavel rankings. Cumberland is ranked No. 6 in the nation in the American Bar Association’s top law school competition teams in arbitration, negotiation, client counseling, mediation and appellate advocacy.
Located in the Homewood suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,324 students from 44 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford is widely recognized as having one of the most beautiful campuses in America, featuring rolling hills, meticulously maintained grounds and Georgian-Colonial architecture. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second-highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.
