Insights & Events

The firm held the third annual Hollingsworth LLP First-Year Mock Trial Competition for George Washington University Law School students, a multi-month-long competition to determine the best trial advocates among first-years.

The 2026 competition began in early March with nearly 200 students competing in teams of four at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, which several preliminary rounds reduced to four semi-finalists. On April 17, 2026, Hollingsworth LLP held the final rounds in the firm’s mock courtroom and included a livestream to GW Law School.

Several months prior to the start of the competition, attorneys from the firm worked with the GW Law Mock Trial Board in planning the competition and making themselves available as trial-skills mentors for competitors’ questions. Attorneys from Hollingsworth, acting as coaches to the four teams that advanced to the semifinals, met several times with their teams prior to the competition to work on their teams’ trial-related skills. Other attorneys from the firm served as judges for the final rounds. This competition requires student advocates to perform several key trial-related tasks, including offering pre-trial motions, conducting opening statements and closing arguments, directing and crossing witnesses, and making and arguing evidentiary objections.

Hollingsworth LLP is delighted – and fortunate – to be able to continue working with a talented group of law students as they prepare for legal careers, and dedicated to helping them develop the skills they will need as the profession’s future litigators.