Beau Marlette ’26 selected to represent Campbell Law in ‘Top Gun’ national mock trial competition

RALEIGH - Campbell Law School's Beau Marlette '26 has been selected to compete in the 2026 Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition on May 29-31, 2026, hosted by Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas, Dean J. Rich Leonard has announced.

Marlette was on the team of Campbell Law advocates who won the national American Association for Justice (AAJ) Student Trial Advocacy Competition (STAC) on March 29 in New Orleans. Marlette was also awarded the Best Advocate Award in the National Final Round.

Another member of the team was Haydn Bauer '26, who will accompany Marlette as associate counsel. Director of Competitive Advocacy Rene Shekmer, who coached the winning AAJ team, will serve as the Top Gun coach as well, Leonard explained.

In 2025, Marlette was a member of the AAJ team that won regionals and went on to compete at nationals, his team finished fifth at the National Civil Trial Competition and he competed in the Syracuse National Trial Competition. During his first year of law school, his team finished as runners up at the Kilpatrick Townsend 1L Mock Trial Competition.

Prior to law school, Marlette earned a bachelor's degree in business and enterprise management with an emphasis on new business development from Wake Forest University in 2023. He was a member of Phi Alpha Delta and served on the WFU Mock Trial team as well as a founding member of the school's Pre-Law Council. A native of Winston-Salem, Marlette attended Wesleyan Christian Academy. He has interned with Judge Susan Burch, Judge Jonathan Kreider and at Kreider Law and Spidell Family Law.

Bauer, who calls Boone home, is the recipient of the Janette Soles Nelson Public Service Scholarship, which is offered annually to one exceptionally qualified student with plans to practice law in service to the public. An administrative assistant at Templeton Properties LP and former intern for the 35th Prosecutorial District's District Attorney's Office, Bauer earned a bachelor's degree in multi-disciplinary history with a minor in philosophy from Appalachian State University.

This is the 17th Top Gun Competition and last year, Campbell Law was the only North Carolina school on the distinguished list of competitors. A full list of this year's invitees has yet to be released.

This Top Gun Competition is Campbell Law's 12th time securing an invitation to this prestigious tournament.

Previously, Campbell Law has had two final four finishes by Andrew Shores '13 and Kaitlin Rothecker '15, and two championship victories by Jacob Morse '17 and Tatiana Terry '19. Only two schools have won the competition twice - Campbell Law and Yale.

The competition is an innovative, invitation-only mock trial tournament where the single best advocates from the 16 top trial advocacy schools across the nation (based on results from the other major national competitions) go head-to-head for the honor of being designated as "Top Gun." The competition also boasts the use of advanced trial presentation software and a winner-take-all prize of $10,000.

Top Gun is singular among advocacy competitions - challenging even the most seasoned and skillful mock trial competitors.

Unlike most trial competitions, Top Gun competitors receive case files merely 24 hours before the first round of the competition begins. With just one day, participants must decipher the most important facts of the case after reviewing hundreds of pages of documents in order to prepare for trial. Competition preparation routinely involves reviewing depositions, records and photographs and analyzing crime scenes or events where the realistic but hypothetical case occurred. Advocates are also assigned witnesses who may be used at their discretion. The jurors and judges for each round of the competition are distinguished trial lawyers and judges, which creates an unparalleled degree of realism in the courtroom.

Top Gun was created in 2010 based on and inspired by Baylor Law's highly-regarded advocacy program and is a competition radically innovative and uniquely distinct. Unlike other mock trial competitions, participants do not receive the case file until they arrive in Waco, a mere 24 hours before the first round of trials begin. Preparation includes reviewing depositions, records, and photographs, and making a site visit to view the scene where the events occurred. Shortly before each round, competitors are assigned the witnesses who may be used at their discretion during the round. The jurors for each round are distinguished trial lawyers and judges.

Baylor Law's Top Gun National Mock Trial Competition has developed a national reputation for its realism and attention to detail. Each year the case packet contains hundreds of pages of exhibits, including multiple depositions, records, photographs, and videos.

Advocates competing in Top Gun's semi-final and final rounds have the opportunity to examine top-level witnesses who are real-life experts in their fields. Actual forensic investigators, nationally renowned experts in eyewitness issues, university professors, and more have taken the stand to testify during Top Gun, adding a sense of realism rarely found in mock trial competitions.

The quality of Top Gun's judges is another hallmark of the competition's excellence. With over eighty judges (made up of both state and federal judges as well as accomplished trial attorneys) and 36 trials unfolding over the course of five days, the real-life trial experience that these judges bring to the competition creates an unparalleled degree of realism.

ABOUT CAMPBELL LAW SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1976, Campbell Law School has developed lawyers who possess moral conviction, social compassion and professional competence, and who view the law as a calling to serve others. Among its accolades, the school has been recognized by the American Bar Association (ABA) as having the nation's top Professionalism Program and by the American Academy of Trial Lawyers for having the nation's best Trial Advocacy Program. Campbell Law boasts more than 5,000 alumni, who make their home in nearly all 50 states and beyond. In 2026, Campbell Law is celebrating 50 years of graduating legal leaders and 17 years of being located in a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of North Carolina's Capital City.

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