MEET THE COACHES


OLU ORANGE

Olu K. Orange is the Director of the USC Dornsife Trial Advocacy Program. He has thrice been selected as a recipient of the California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award -- first in 2015, again in 2017, and yet -- again in 2021. All three CLAY awards honored Orange for his civil rights work, which is the primary focus of his legal practice at Orange Law Offices. In 2016, Orange was selected as one of the Daily Journal's Top 100 lawyers in California in recognition of his entertainment law practice. Orange is also consistently selected by Thomson Reuters as a 'Super Lawyer' in the Civil Rights and First Amendment category. Orange's practice of law in California began as a Deputy Public Defender in Orange County.

Since 2006, Orange has been a teaching team member for Harvard Law School's (HLS) Winter Trial Advocacy Workshop (TAW), a full-credit HLS clinical course. Orange also serves as a National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA) faculty member for trial advocacy and deposition skills programs held for attorneys at various private firms, public organizations and state and federal government law offices nationwide.

For more about Professor Orange, click here

HOOMAN KAZEMI

Hooman Kazemi is the Assistant Program Director of the USC Dornsife Trial Advocacy Program. By day, Kazemi serves as a Trainer with the Los Angeles County Office of the Public Defender training new hires in advanced trial advocacy principles and mentoring them during their first jury trials. Previously, he handled felony cases with sentencing exposure ranging to lifetime imprisonment. He has tried over 75 cases to judges and juries at the felony, juvenile, and misdemeanor level, with exceptional results.

Kazemi has been and continues to be well-respected by the bench and bar throughout Southern California. In 2010 he was named Trial Lawyer of the Year in recognition of his exceptional trial record by The Private Defenders (TPD), a state-wide criminal defense bar association comprised of both Private Criminal Defense practitioners and Public Defenders. He is currently a member of the Faculty of Law at TPD as well as an Executive Board Member.

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CHRIS BLOOM

Chris Bloom earned his J.D. cum laude from Washington University School of Law, where he served as a Staff Editor of the Journal of Law & Policy. He also earned an M.B.A. from Washington University, Olin Business School, and a B.A. in Neuroscience from the University of Southern California.

Bloom represents developers, investors and lenders in the development and financing of utility-scale energy projects, with a particular focus on renewables. In connection with such representations, Bloom has negotiated equity capital contribution agreements, partnership agreements, credit agreements, power purchase agreements and secured hedging arrangements, among other transaction documents. He also has experience representing clients in mergers and acquisitions in both energy-specific and general corporate transactions.

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KIRSTIN EGGERS

Kirstin Eggers is a faculty member at the USC School of Dramatic Arts. She has been a working actor and writer for over 15 years, with extensive commercial, guest and recurring television appearances including as a series regular on the ABC sitcom Work It, for which Entertainment Weekly called her “phenomenal.”

With a focus on comedy off-camera, she has performed sketch and improv at the Groundlings, UCB, and Comedy Central Stage, and accepted invitations to appear at comedy festivals nationwide, including SketchfestNYC, Chicago Sketchfest, and the storied HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen (winning the Best Sketch Comedy award with troupe Summer of Tears). A bona fide Trojan, Eggers holds a BFA in Acting from USC, where she won both the Jack Nicholson Award and Ava Greenwald Award for Outstanding Actor while an undergraduate, and was a member of USC’s premier comedy troupe Commedus Interruptus. In addition to her work at USC, she has created curricula and taught acting and comedy for various organizations including Universal Studios Japan, 24th Street Theatre, Brentwood School, LAUSD, Gabriella Foundation, Arizona Bar Association, and National High School Mock Trial champions, to name a few.

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TEAM MEMBERS


Mariah Breit

Junior - Business

Sabrina Feng

Freshman - Economics

Joanna Ge

Freshman - Economics

Anika Gidwani

Senior - Neuroscience

James Hebish

Senior - Real Estate

Elisa Herrera

Junior - Political Science

Jonathan Kamanta

Freshman - International Relations

Yvette Lopez

Junior - Computer Science

Mark Marsenovic

Senior - Political Science

Ambika Nuggihalli

Sophomore - Communications

Mariam Petrosyan

Senior - Communications

Stepan Petrosyan

Senior - Political Science

Mark Rodriguez

Freshman - Political Science

Dylan Specht

Senior - Law, History and Culture

Leana Ter-Martirosyan

Senior - Political Science

Vadim Trubetskoy

Sophomore - Political Science

Diana Vargas

Junior - Political Science

Shengya Zhang

Freshman - Computer Engineering + Psychology