Published on February 17, 2020 by Morgan Black  
NTC Regional Champs
Emily Higdon, Savannah Holaday, Lana Bell, Rachel Williams, Jake Sauls, Judge Jim Roberts ‘94, Carami Garrett, Craig Shirley '19, Dylan Scilabro, Andrew Edge, Aham Nwosu and Nick Patti

Cumberland School of Law's national trial team swept Region 6 of the National Trial Competition (NTC) Feb. 14-16, with each team winning their final round and advancing to the nationals in Fort Worth, Texas, in April. Each team went 5-0 on their way to winning the championship.  

This is the ninth time in the past 12 years that a Cumberland team has won the NTC Regional Championship and the fourth time Cumberland has swept the regionals in that time period, for a total of 13 teams advancing to nationals in 12 years.  

The team of third-year students Lana Bell and Jake Sauls defeated teams from Florida State University College of Law, Stetson University College of Law and Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law in the preliminary rounds, the University of Miami School of Law in the semifinals and the University of Georgia School of Law in the finals.  

The team of third-year students Dylan Scilabro, Andrew Edge and Carami Garrett defeated teams from Nova Southeastern, Emory University School of Law and the University of Georgia in the preliminary rounds, Florida State University in the semifinals and Nova Southeastern of Law in the finals.  

Dylan Scilabro won Best Overall Advocate for the preliminary rounds and Best Advocate for his final round. Lana Bell won Best Advocate for her final round.  

The teams were greatly assisted by third-year student Savannah Holaday and second-year students Emily Higdon, Aham Nwosu, Nick Patti and Rachel Williams, who served as witnesses during the competition.  

The teams were coached by Judge Jim Roberts '94 and Craig Shirley '19. 

“Cumberland is blessed to have extremely talented and hard-working students who are dedicated to becoming practice-ready professionals and the best advocates they can be for their future clients. I am so proud of this group and very thankful for their contributions to the Cumberland advocacy legacy,” said Judge Roberts.  

Cumberland hosted Region 8, Feb. 7-9, at the Jefferson County Civil Courthouse. Region 6 was hosted by Stetson University. 

 
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 6,101 students from 45 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 fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks 6th nationally for its Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.