USD Law Advocate, Spring 2026

STUDENT SUCCESS

USD LAW ADVOCACY COMPETITION TEAMS SHINE ON NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAGES USD athletics may draw headlines, but tournaments are not confined to basketball courts and baseball fields. They also unfold in boardrooms and courtrooms, where USD School of Law’s Advocacy Competition Teams (ACTs) send students into national and international trial, appellate, arbitration, and transactional competitions. Across these events, USD Law students sharpen drafting, counseling and advocacy skills that they will rely on throughout their careers.

❱❱ The Transactional Law Team (TLT) , coached by Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Corporate and Securities Law Stephen Ferruolo, gives students hands-on training in corpo rate deal practice, contract analysis, transactional drafting and dealmaking. The year opened with a finalist finish at Baylor Law’s invite-only, rapid-fire contest The Closer, where Nathan Gelbrich ’25 (JD) counseled a client, identified key issues and reached business-savvy solutions in a 24-hour span. “In his final round on Sunday, Nathan demonstrated the same mastery of the deal and worked collaboratively with opposing counsel to find sensible, business-savvy solutions to all the major issues,” Ferruolo said. In Los Angeles, two USD TLT teams swept through the UCLA

Transactional Law Competition where they managed a simulated, complex private equity purchase of a technology company. Kyle Murphy ’25 (JD), Kevin Masso ’25 (JD) and Reece Martin (3L) won Best Draft, Best Negotiation and Best Overall while Coleman Fuquea (3L), Julia Perry ’25 (JD) and Brian Buckley (3L) took home awards for Best Draft and Best Overall, marking TLT’s best finish at the esteemed event. TLT’s momentum continued to competitions at William & Mary, Wayne State University, Duke University and on to the ABA Business Law Section’s MAC Cup III, where Buckley and Ye Jun Kim (2L) advanced from a 64-team field to the Elite Eight, impressing judges with precise contract analysis and deal strategy.

Top: Nathan Gelbrich (far left) and competitors at Baylor Law’s invite-only, rapid-fire contest The Closer. Right, front row: Reece Martin and Julia Perry; back row: Kyle Murphy, Brian Buckley, Professor Stephen Ferruolo, Kevin Masso and Coleman Fuquea at the UCLA Transactional Law Competition.

SPRING 2026

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