Students hone their skills at Trial Advocacy Board internal competition

The Charleston School of Law hosted its Trial Advocacy Board (TAB) final round of internal trial competition at the Charleston County Municipal Courthouse on Tuesday evening.

The Plaintiff team (Amanda Shaffer and Logan Sudholz) and Defense team (Sydney Harris and Brett Spradley) argued in a civil negligence action involving the death of a fictional Hollywood actor.

The four 2L law students at Charleston Law impressed the jury, judge and faculty advisor Suzanne Chapman in the competition.

The Honorable Molly H. Cherry presided over the competition. Judge Cherry was appointed to serve as a United States Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court, District of South Carolina, in July of 2020. Prior to taking the bench, Judge Cherry worked in private practice at Nexsen Pruet for over 20 years and served as a Law Clerk for the Honorable David C. Norton at the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Local attorneys served as jurors and scoring judges.

The jurors included:

• Patrick Yanoti (’16) – Yanoti is a personal injury attorney for Miller, Dawson, Sigal & Ward.
• Tre Holloway – A Harvard Law graduate, Holloway clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He currently works for K&L Gates, focusing on appellate advocacy, complex commercial disputes, & insurance recovery.
• Commander Graham Lanz – He currently serves in the U.S. Coast Guard as the Pre-Litigation Department Head in the Office of the Chief Prosecutor (OCP). He oversees the investigation & evaluation of criminal cases within the OCP.
• Nickisha Woodard (’13) – She works for Turner Padget in their litigation department, focusing on personal injury, construction, and product liability cases.
• Johnny Stewart (’16) – He currently works at the Finkel Law Firm, focusing on personal injury, civil litigation & property disputes.
• Interim Dean Jonathan Marcantel – A graduate from University of South Carolina School of Law. He joined the Charleston School of Law faculty in August 2011 and was named Interim Dean in October 2024.