The A. Barry Cappello Trial Team has ranked #1 in the country since 2019 in all three major rankings. 

In the 2020-21 school year, UCLA Law became the first school in decades to win the "triple crown": Tournament of Champions, the National Trial Competition, and the Student Trial Advocacy Competition. In 2021-22, UCLA Law did it again, becoming the first school to accomplish the feat twice. And in 2022-23, UCLA Law team did it again.

The National Trial Competition is the oldest trial competition at any level -- high school, college, or law school. More than 300 teams from more than 160 law schools compete annually. Before 2020, no school had ever won NTC more than twice in a row. UCLA Law won four years in a row, starting in 2021. In three of those years, the championship trial was UCLA v. UCLA.

In sum, the Cappello Trial Team has won more than 50 trials competitions and 10 national championships since 2018 -- more than any five law schools combined. At six competitions, the championship round was UCLA v. UCLA.

"The Trial Team changed my career," said Enrico Trevisani '22, who won three national championships, 44 trials, and eight competitions. "I had success in college mock trial, but this program helped me reach another level."

Competing on the Trial Team is also a lot of fun. "It's a family," said co-president Deeksha Kohli. "I've made some of my closest friends on the Trial Team."

Anyone is welcome to audition for the Trial Team. Some developed their passion for the courtroom after taking the law school's trial advocacy courses. Others learned the craft through undergraduate competitions governed by the American Mock Trial Association.

Coaches have included program director Professor Justin Bernstein and some of the most accomplished trial coaches in the country: J.D. Rees, J'me Forrest, Andrew Tran, Neil Thakor, Amanda Mundell, Elizabeth Smiley, Rahul Hari, Kyle DeCamp, Connor Trafton, Alex Bluebond, Melissa Watt, Zach Fields, Deeksha Kohli, Natalie Garson, Seth Wacks, Stephen Johnson, Ben Wallace, Brittnee Bui, Laureen Bousmail, Mikayla Wasiri, Hon. Jack Lucky, Aidan Welsh, Iain Lampert, Enrico Trevisani, Kenny Capesius, Jack Eyers, and Corey Wilson.

The Cappello Team is named for, and made possible because of contributions from, A. Barry Cappello, the famed Santa Barbara trial lawyer and 1965 alum of UCLA Law.