Congratulations to Baylor University as the Best In Texas 2024 Champions!
This year’s competition was held in Houston at the Harris County Civil Courthouse. Baylor defeated UT in the finals and will proudly hold the Dickie Grigg trophy until they relinquish it on September 18, 2025, in Lubbock. Semifinalists were South Texas College of Law and SMU.
The BIT began with a fantastic Welcome Reception on Thursday evening at The Grove where the teams mingled with ABOTA members and enjoyed great food, specialty cocktails and wine.
Over 150 jurors participated in Friday’s preliminary rounds. More than 225 jurors participated in Saturday’s preliminary rounds. The teams and ABOTA volunteers enjoyed Houston’s best Mexican food at Awards Dinner at Irma’s Original on Saturday night where the following awards were presented:
Civility – University of Texas
Professionalism – (tie) Gage Wiley, Texas Tech, and Reagan Conner, Baylor
Best Opening Statement – Morgan Bates, UT
Best Voir Dire – Christian Parker, Baylor
The semifinal and final rounds enjoyed a full complement of 25 jurors in each. The final round presiding judge was Judge Eileen O’Neill, former TEX-ABOTA President. The ABOTA evaluators were Jennifer Doan, ABOTA President Elect, Fred James, ABOTA Foundation President, Stacy Garcia, Houston Chapter National Board Representative, and Joseph Callier, Houston Chapter National Board Representative and former Houston Chapter President.
BIT 2024 was a huge success thanks the hard work of the BIT Committee, the Texas law school representatives, the American Society of Trial Consultants and Caliber Video Productions! A special Thank You to Hon. Christine Weems who shared her space, her incredible technical support and was everywhere all at once all the time.
