For the second year in a row, the Trial Team returned from the Texas Young Lawyers Association (TYLA) National Trial Team’s Regional Competition in Philadelphia on Feb. 18 & 19 with an armful of trophies.

Trial Team members Michael Benz and Margaret Wheltle won one of two Regional Championship trophies in the National Trial Competition, one of the nation’s toughest and most prestigious. Benz was named the Best Advocate in the final round, in which he and Wheltle defeated a team from Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law.

A second team of Carla Wasko, Sam Haaz and J.J. Luff advanced to the finals, where Wasko was named Best Advocate in the round, against students from Temple’s Beasley School of Law.

The students were coached by Royce W. Smith, of Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock & Dodig, LLP, and David K. Inscho of Kline & Specter.

The law school’s teams feature unusually strong students, said Professor Gwen Roseman Stern, who directs the law school’s Trial Advocacy Program.

“These are some of the most outstanding students I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been teaching for 13 years,” Stern said.

Benz and Wheltle will take part in the national competition, which will be held in Austin, Tex. March 22-24.