Law School seniors James Grable, Craig Brown and Jennifer Runfola earned last month's trip to the national mock-trial competition for law schools, sponsored by the Young Lawyers Association of Houston, by first winning New York State's competition in Albany in January. The team was coached by Assistant Erie County District Attorneys Timothy Franczyk and Dianne LaValle and defense attorney Robert Murphy.

The Regional Championship is the highest honor yet earned by trial teams from UB, who have only competed for seven years, explained Murphy. "Essentially, we are neophytes, but we won it." Twenty-two law schools compete in the northeast region and only 26 schools from across the nation fielded teams at the invitation-only event in Houston.

In the weeks prior to the competition, members of the team put in 40-plus hour weeks preparing, explained Grable, who is also editor-in-chief of the UB Law Review. "We practiced every night during the week, and all weekend for three straight weeks to get ready," he said.

The students were selected from among the top students in a semester-long Trial Technique course, taught last fall in downtown courts by area trial attorneys. Murphy, who has taught in the trial technique program and coached competition teams for seven years, called the students a testament to the quality of UB's program. "I said after the first year we competed that someday UB will own this competition," said Murphy, adding that he predicts a UB team would soon win the national championship.

Franczyk, now in his third year with the program, says the students' success reflects well on the law school, and it bolsters efforts by the law school to expand its trial technique program. Franczyk is no stranger to the competition. He competed on a team from Syracuse University that placed second in the nation in 1982. His own trial coach from Syracuse came to help coach UB's national team, and, ironically, UB beat two Syracuse teams along the way to its regional championship.

Following graduation, Grable, of Buffalo, will serve a term as a clerk to Federal District Court Judge William Skretny and Runfola, also of Buffalo, plans to become a local trial attorney. Brown, of suburban Orange County, will be a prosecutor in the office of the Queens County District Attorney.