{"id":310671,"date":"2026-05-27T11:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/310671\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T11:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T11:39:18","slug":"texas-tech-law-leads-nation-with-three-academic-all-american-advocates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/310671\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech Law Leads Nation with Three Academic All-American Advocates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Texas Tech is the only university to have honorees in all three advocacy disciplines set by the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators.<\/p>\n

Summary:<\/p>\n

Texas Tech University School of Law has solidified its reputation as the nation\u2019s top advocacy program after three third-year students\u00a0\u2013 Rachel\u00a0Behnke, Lauren\u00a0Berry\u00a0and Derek Fisher\u00a0\u2013 were\u00a0named 2026 Academic All-American Advocates by the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators. Texas Tech is now the only law school in the nation with honorees spanning all three advocacy disciplines\u00a0\u2013 appellate\u00a0advocacy, dispute\u00a0resolution\u00a0and trial advocacy\u00a0\u2013 highlighting\u00a0the breadth and sustained excellence of its nationally recognized program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why This Matters:<\/p>\n

National Leadership:\u00a0Texas Tech Law\u2019s achievement reinforces its standing as the premier advocacy program in the country,\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0success across every major area of legal competition and training.\u00a0
\nStudent Excellence:\u00a0The recognition honors not only courtroom performance, but also academic achievement,\u00a0leadership\u00a0and service, showing the program develops well-rounded legal professionals.\u00a0
\nReputation and Recruitment:\u00a0National honors and championship success strengthen Texas Tech Law\u2019s reputation, helping attract top students,\u00a0faculty\u00a0and future opportunities in the legal field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Tech University<\/a>\u2019s\u00a0School of Law<\/a>\u00a0has once again distinguished itself as the nation\u2019s premier advocacy program. Three third-year students \u2013 Rachel Behnke, Lauren Berry and Derek Fisher \u2013 have been named 2026 Academic All-American Advocates by the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators (NALAE). The honor recognizes law student advocates who demonstrate excellence across competition, academics, leadership and service.<\/p>\n

This makes Texas Tech the only law school in the country with honorees in all three advocacy disciplines: appellate advocacy, dispute resolution and trial advocacy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tDerek Fisher<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tLauren Berry<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tRachel Behnke
\n\t\t\t\t
<\/p>\n

Behnke, Berry and Fisher are members of Texas Tech Law Review and the Board of Barristers, a combination that demonstrates the program\u2019s emphasis on producing advocates who excel not only in the courtroom but in the classroom. All three students were also inducted into the National Order of the Barristers, the highest honor awarded to student advocates at the national level.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0Rob Sherwin<\/a>, the Champions in Advocacy Endowed Professor of Law, this accomplishment reflects both the students\u2019 extraordinary dedication and the culture of excellence that has been built over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really hard to replace these students, but I think they\u2019ve set a bar for what a Texas Tech Law advocate should be: not just incredible in the courtroom, but in the classroom as well,\u201d Sherwin said. \u201cThey are elite in every sense of the word, and they really represent how well-rounded our program is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behnke built one of the most accomplished advocacy resumes in the country during her time at Texas Tech. She led the school to national championships at the National Pretrial Advocacy Competition and the National Energy and Sustainability Moot Court Competition, earning best oralist at both. She says appellate advocacy became one of the most meaningful parts of her experience at Texas Tech Law, as it challenged her intellectually while also growing her confidence.<\/p>\n

Berry was recognized in dispute resolution and was a national champion and national finalist in negotiation competitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis embodies all the hours we\u2019ve put into our degrees,\u201d Berry said. \u201cFrom classroom to courtroom and everything in between. This award recognizes the fact that a law degree is so much more than a stack of casebooks and cold calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fisher was selected for his excellence in trial advocacy but also was part of the same championship-winning pretrial team that captured the school\u2019s 57th national advocacy championship. Fisher credits Texas Tech Law\u2019s emphasis on early advocacy involvement. Students are competing as early as their first year in law school, laying a foundation to grow in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

Sherwin points to what this moment signals about the breadth of Texas Tech Law\u2019s advocacy identity, one that resists being defined by a single discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just a moot court school, or a mock trial school, or an ADR school,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a program that emphasizes it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

That approach has produced results. Texas Tech\u2019s School of Law now leads the nation with three honorees from a single graduating class, continuing what has been\u00a0an extraordinary run of success<\/a>\u00a0for its advocacy program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis recognition reflects something special about who our students become during their time at Texas Tech Law,\u201d said Dean\u00a0Jack Wade Nowlin<\/a>. \u201cRachel, Lauren and Derek have excelled, and this honor reflects both their extraordinary dedication as well as the faculty and alumni who help shape their experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cProfessor Sherwin has built a culture that challenges students to pursue excellence across disciplines and develop into complete advocates. Being the only law school in the nation with honorees across all three advocacy disciplines is a remarkable achievement, and we are incredibly proud of these students.\u201d<\/p>\n

About Texas Tech School of Law<\/p>\n

The Texas Tech School of Law was founded in 1967 with its first class boasting 72 students. The American Bar Association granted accreditation to the school in 1970. Since its first class, the school has graduated more than 8,800 students, including the first woman to head a major federal-law enforcement agency, the U.S. Army\u2019s highest-ranking legal officer, elected officials and some of the nation\u2019s top litigators.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Texas Tech is the only university to have honorees in all three advocacy disciplines set by the National…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-310671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}