Students from 24 law schools around the United Sates participated in Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law’s inaugural Shark Beach Showdown National Mock Trial Competition on Saturday, February 24, and Sunday, February 25, 2024.

During the competition, students were able to showcase their vast knowledge of the legal system and how they would be apply it in a trial setting. Judge Raag Singhal of the Southern District of Florida, United States District Court, volunteered for the mock trial along with 17th Circuit Judges Florence Taylor Barner, Betsy Benson, Martin Bidwill, Chris Brown, Melinda Brown, Peter Holden, Daniel J. Kanner, Kristin R. Kanner, Giuseppina Miranda, Jackie Powell, Andrew Siegel and Francis Viamontes.

Pace Law School triumphed as the champion team. The University Of Georgia School Of Law was the runner up.

Several 17th Circuit judges joined the Florida Justice Association Research and Education Foundation and the Young Lawyers Section to participate in the annual Honorable E. Earle Zehmer Memorial Mock Trial Competition on Saturday, November 4 and Sunday, November 5, 2023.

Ten teams of Students from various law schools throughout the state competed to win, with Stetson University College of Law taking first place as the plaintiff team, and St Thomas University College of Law coming in second place as the defense team. Judicial staff that participated in the mock trail included Judges Elaine A. Carbuccia, Kenneth A. Gottlieb, Gary M. Farmer, Jr., Michele Towbin Singer, Jackie Powell, Francis Viamontes, Jessica M. Marra, and Magistrate Lucy Ramos Miller.