Baylor Lawyers Capture Multiple Titles at Fifth Circuit Oral Advocacy Competition

Baylor Law School graduates earned top honors at the Fifth Circuit Appellate Oral Advocacy Competition, held June 12 at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.

Hosted by the Young Lawyers Committee of the Bankruptcy and Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit, the competition was designed to strengthen oral advocacy skills through a realistic appellate advocacy experience. Competitors participated in a mock appeal modeled after a real U.S. Supreme Court case from 2023 (Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC), presenting oral arguments in the East, West, or En Banc courtrooms.

Tiffani Skroch, JD ’24, competed individually and earned two of the competition’s highest honors, winning her courtroom championship and being named Best Advocate in her courtroom. In a separate courtroom, Kristopher Ruiz, JD ’22, and Jessica Cox, JD ’21, competed as a team and captured their courtroom championship, with Ruiz also being recognized as Best Advocate.

All three Baylor Lawyers continue to invest in developing future advocates by serving as coaches for Baylor Law School’s interscholastic competition teams, helping prepare students for national advocacy competitions, and carrying forward Baylor Law’s tradition of excellence in oral advocacy.

For Skroch, the competition reflected lessons first learned through Baylor Law’s advocacy curriculum. “Baylor’s advocacy program is unique in that it prepares you to present your argument based on the judges, which is not necessarily how you may have practiced or what you expected,” Skroch said. “At the end of the day, an oral argument is not a speech, it’s a conversation.”

Through Baylor Law’s advocacy programs, Skroch said she learned how to identify judges’ concerns, make on-the-spot judgment calls, and adjust arguments as needed. “Ultimately, your goal as an advocate is to make agreeing with you easy for the bench, even when the issue itself is difficult,” she said. “Baylor Law shows you how to do that.”

Cox echoed those sentiments, noting that Baylor Law’s demanding Practice Court Program develops advocates who can perform under any circumstances. “What makes Baylor Law’s Practice Court Program so difficult is also what makes it so valuable,” Cox said. “Whether you’re well rested or running on caffeine, whether you prepared weeks in advance or the night before, whether you’re arguing familiar law or tackling an entirely new issue, you’re expected to think analytically, respond to difficult questions in real time, and be persuasive under pressure.”

By the time she stood before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Cox said those skills had already become second nature. “I also had some wonderful advocacy coaches at Baylor that played a significant role in developing my confidence as an attorney,” she said.

The success of Skroch, Ruiz, and Cox reflects Baylor Law’s longstanding commitment to advocacy training and highlights the impact of Baylor Lawyers who continue to mentor and coach the next generation of advocates.