GAVEL Rankings, created by Professor Jared Rosenblatt, Special Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School and Faculty Advisor to Hofstra's Trial Advocacy Association, has three goals:
1. Recognize excellent trial competition results
2. Give smaller programs a real chance to be recognized
3. Acknowledge schools winning the toughest competitions
Why did we develop this new ranking system? Because we want to celebrate student excellence, and the existing rankings are useful -- but many of us find them to be incomplete. US News reflects schools' reputations in the trial advocacy community. TOC Points recognize excellence at only the two events open to everyone, AAJ and TYLA -- but they ignore schools' achievements at the many other outstanding competitions. Fordham's system is the most thorough, objective measurement -- but its formula punishes schools that don't have the resources to attend as many competitions as possible each year and it treats every competition as equally difficult to win when we know that’s not the case.
The GAVEL Rankings give smaller programs a chance by using a formula that gives extra points for achieving the same results in fewer competitions.
The GAVEL Rankings identify the toughest competitions by polling 25 of the most respected trial team coaches and directors. Coaches were asked to score each competition from 1 to 10, reflecting how difficult it is for a team to be successful at that given competition. Coaches didn't rank competitions they hosted or those with which they were not familiar. Based on these rankings, each tournament was allocated a value. Teams are awarded points for winning a competition or being a finalist, semi-finalist, or (in some events) a quarterfinalist.
Special thanks to Professor Joe Lester for compiling all competition results at www.trialteamcentral.org.
Sign-up for our annual newsletter showcasing updated rankings, sent once per calendar year.
Hofstra Law School Joan Axinn Hall, Uniondale, New York 11553, United States
Copyright © 2024 Gavel Rankings via Trialteamrankings - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.