Published on March 10, 2025 by Morgan Black
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Victoria Spera and Caroline Poston will represent Cumberland School of Law at the ABA Representation in Mediation National Competition in Chicago, March 28-29.
Samford University Cumberland School of Law’s National Mediation Team competed in the American Bar Association’s Representation in Mediation Regional Competition, March 1-2, at Loyola University New Orleans. For the first time in years, a team of Cumberland student advocates won the regional competition and will advance to the national tournament in Chicago.
Cumberland was represented by third-year students Zane Mitchell, Kaitlyn Fowler and Catie Maurin, and second-year students Brock Ware, Caroline Poston and Victoria Spera, all coached by Kevin Bufford, JD ’17. The duo of Poston and Spera were the competition champions and will represent Cumberland in Chicago at the end of March.
“These students faced a lot of adversity in this competition, and I could not be prouder of how they represented Cumberland,” said Ben Warren, JD ’18, director of ADR teams at Cumberland School of Law. “Winning this competition for the first time in years is a significant achievement and speaks to the dedication of our student advocates and coaches. Behind the scenes, the entire team dedicated significant time to ensuring our competing advocates were well prepared.”
Cumberland School of Law’s advocacy programs are nationally recognized for excellence: 6th for Trial Advocacy by U.S. News & World Report (2024), 3rd in the Gavel Rankings for fall 2024, 4th in the Trial Competition Performance Rankings for 2023-24 (3rd overall since 2016). Recognition for the school’s ADR programs is on the rise, having been recognized in 2024 as the 8th top ABA law school competition teams in arbitration, negotiation, client counseling, mediation and appellate advocacy.
Warren added, “This win highlights the emergence of our Alternative Dispute Resolution teams and could not have been achieved without the incredible teamwork displayed throughout preparation for this competition.”
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.
