Unscripted Direct
Conversations with the law school trial advocacy community. Hosted by Spencer Pahlke (shareholder at Walkup Melodia and trial advocacy director at UC Berkeley School of Law) and Justin Bernstein (director of trial advocacy at UCLA School of Law).
Unscripted Direct
Episode 137 - Naughty, Nice, and NTC
Naughty (Witnesses), Nice (Scripties), and NTC (Case Teasers):
Introduction (0:00:00). Spencer and Justin go to Seattle. Why? Bad facts...
America's Next Top Trial Lawyer (0:04:13). Cash for closings! Students can visit the website to participate or learn more.
The Break (0:05:25). Results from National Trial League and college football.
Coach Roundtable (0:08:50). Why are more witnesses misbehaving? And what can we do about it? Cumberland's Judge Roberts, Mercer's Katie Powers, and Drexel's Phil Pasquarello join for an in-depth conversation. Also, Katie promotes bourbon, Judge proposes new tournament names, Phil says "more people need to be like me," and Justin tries to recruit Katie's infant daughter.
NTC Case Preview (0:44:56). The regionals case authors preview the 2026 regionals criminal case ... and share a pretty big hint.
The Scripties (0:59:28). First, some absurd awards: Best Use of Email, Most Unnecessarily Confrontational, and the Scripty for Most Shameless Self-Promotion for a Scripty. Then, the big ones: Best Swag, Best Trophy, Favorite Competition, Top Team, and More.
Mailbag (1:12:30). How do you handle it when students don't like the Spring team they're assigned? And what happens when Justin and Spencer receive their US News ballots while they're recording the episode?