Newswise — CHICAGO - Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Bartlit Center trial teams captured the top two spots in the American Bar Association’s Midwest Regional Labor Law Competition for the second year in a row.

Both Bartlit Center teams were undefeated going into the final round, in which the team of Joey Becker JD ’18, Amanda Tzivas JD ’19, Hannah Freiman JD ’18 and Lane Lansdown JD ’18 narrowly defeated the team of Brooke Troutman JD ’18, Ben Koenigsfeld JD ’18, Joey Mintz JD ’18 and Beth Wurm JD ’19. 

In the preliminary rounds, the Northwestern Law students defeated teams from the University of Illinois (twice), Indiana University, Marquette University, the University of Missouri and Campbell University.

Under the leadership of Rob Robertson of Robertson Duric, this was the fifth time in the last seven years that Northwestern Law has won the Midwest Labor Law Competition. The team’s other coaches include Kendrick Washington (U.S. Department of Education); Mark Duric (Robertson Duric); Patrick Cordova (Jenner & Block); Brenna McLean (Jackson Lewis); and Michael Ovca (Edelson).

Robertson, the head coach, praised his students as “exceptional advocates who upheld the highest standards of professionalism and who excelled in every phase of trial lawyering.”

Steven Lubet, the Williams Memorial Professor of Law at Northwestern and director of the Bartlit Center for Trial Advocacy, added, “the law school is fortunate indeed to have such outstanding coaches in Robertson, Washington, Duric, Cordova, McLean and Ovca.”

The Becker, Tzivas, Freiman and Lansdown team will compete for the national labor law championship in January in New Orleans.