Opponents Mami Kato and Toi Dennis with Judge Wade Harper McCree of the Wayne County Third Judicial Circuit Court, Criminal Division, and Chastity Graham and Phillip Toutant.

DETROIT (Nov. 26, 2008) - Wayne State University Law School congratulates Philip Toutant and Chastity Graham on recently winning the Fall 2008 Donald E. Barris Trial Competition.

Mock Trial (formerly known as the Student Trial Advocacy Program) is a co-curricular activity at Wayne Law that allows second- and third-year law students the opportunity to gain and practice litigation skills. Interested students try out for the program at the beginning of each school year, and participants earn academic credit for conducting two trials each semester. After the second trial, the four teams with the highest point averages compete in a semi-final round, and then two teams advance to compete in the final round - the Donald E. Barris Trial Competition. The winners receive a $500 scholarship and may receive a position on the Mock Trial National Team.

In this year's competition, titled The State of Lone Star v. Gregory Hamilton, Graham and Toutant represented the criminally-charged defendant, George Hamilton, while finalists Mami Kato and Toi Dennie represented the prosecution, The State of Lone Star. Competition judges included Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Sita Doddamani and Wayne Law Mock Trial Commissioner Kevin McGiness. The competition was presided over by Judge Wade Harper McCree of the Wayne County Third Judicial Circuit Court, Criminal Division. The Law School is especially grateful for the participation of the judges.

Wayne State University Law School has educated and served the Detroit metropolitan area since its inception as Detroit City Law School in 1927. Located at 471 West Palmer Street in Detroit's re-energized historic cultural center, the Law School remains committed to student success and features modern lecture and court facilities, multi-media and distance learning classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium, and the Arthur Neef Law Library, which houses one of the nation's 40 largest legal collections. Taught by an internationally recognized and expert faculty, Wayne Law students experience a high-quality legal education via a growing array of hands-on curricular offerings, five live-client clinics, and access to well over 100 internships with local and non-profit entities each year. Its 11,000 living alumni, who work in every state of the nation and more than a dozen foreign countries, are experts in their disciplines and include leading members of the local, national and international legal communities. For more information, visit www.law.wayne.edu.