Trent Testa joined Cumberland School of Law in 2026 where he serves as Assistant Professor of Advocacy and Assistant Director of Advocacy Programs.  

 

Testa, a member of Cumberland School of Law’s class of 2021, brings extensive criminal and civil litigation experience to Cumberland. Before joining the faculty, he practiced as a trial attorney with the Jefferson County and Tuscaloosa County Public Defender’s Offices, representing indigent clients charged with offenses ranging from misdemeanors to capital murder. His most recent jury trials have resulted in acquittals for clients charged with murder, attempted murder, and murder.

 

Testa is a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College’s Deryl Dantzler Trial Practice Institute and is the recipient of the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association’s 2024 Merit Award for Excellence in a Criminal Case.

 

While practicing law, Testa remained actively involved in advocacy education. He began coaching Cumberland’s National Trial Team in 2022 and joined the faculty as an adjunct instructor for Basic Skills in Trial Advocacy in 2026.

 

As a coach of Cumberland’s National Trial Team, Testa has helped teams achieve numerous regional and national successes, including:

Testa’s success as a coach builds on his own accomplishments as a student advocate at Cumberland. As a member of Cumberland’s National Trial Team, he and his teammates were crowned Regional Champions of the National Trial Competition and led Cumberland to a fifth-place national finish at the National Civil Trial Competition. He also served as Research Editor of the Cumberland Law Review and graduated cum laude in 2021.

 

Testa has published scholarship through the Cumberland Law Review, including "State of the Unions: Where They Are, Where They Have Been, & Where They Are Going," 51 Cumb. L. Rev. 193 (2021), and "Daker v. Jackson," 1 Cumb. L. Rev. Online 63 (2019).