American College of Trial Lawyers

What American College of Trial Lawyers does

The American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) is an invitation-only, nonprofit professional fellowship of trial lawyers in the United States and Canada, founded in 1950 and headquartered in Newport Beach, California. The College's primary function is the curation, recognition, and convening of an elite membership body capped at no more than 1% of the total lawyer population of any state or province; it currently comprises more than 5,500 Fellows. It is governed through elected leadership—a President (Richard H. Deane, Jr.), President-Elect (Sandra Forbes), and Immediate Past President (Bill Murphy)—and a Board of Regents, with operational staff of 1-10 employees at the national office.

ACTL's core offerings center on membership services, competitions, and educational programming rather than on a technology product. Members access the Find a Fellow directory, pay annual dues, and engage with committee work through the Fellow Hub portal (online.actl.com). Programs include the National Moot Court Competition (co-sponsored with the New York City Bar Association, 75th anniversary in 2025), the National Trial Competition (with the Texas Young Lawyers Association), the Trial Advocacy Program (6th edition hosted at Weil Gotshal in NYC, June 2025), the Trial Tested podcast, The Journal, and an extensive awards portfolio (Emil Gumpert, Griffin Bell, Sandra Day O'Connor, Thurgood Marshall, and others). The College also operates a U.S. Foundation and a Canadian Foundation as charitable arms and partners with the National Constitution Center on civics education.

Revenue is generated through membership dues (annual, subscription), Continuing Legal Education programs and materials, charitable contributions, and publications sales; pricing is not publicly disclosed and members transact through the member portal. The organization is nonpartisan, has no parent company, and is not venture- or PE-backed. Geographically it serves the U.S. and Canada, with membership and event programming distributed across both countries and supported by state and province chapters.

Name

American College of Trial Lawyers

Legal name

The American College of Trial Lawyers

Website

https://actl.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1950

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The American College of Trial Lawyers is a nonprofit, invitation-only fellowship of more than 5,500 trial lawyers across the U.S. and Canada, capping membership at 1% of lawyers per state or province. It offers recognition, CLE programs, competitions, and convening services to elite trial advocates.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Professional Association / Honorary Trial Lawyer Fellowship

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (54111), Exam Preparation and Tutoring (611691)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAMAGAC

Mock Trial & Moot Court

Education/Supplemental & Enrichment Programs (Arts, STEM, Language)/Academic Clubs & Competitions (Debate, Model UN, Olympiads)

Keywords

• Trial lawyer fellowship
• Legal professional association
• Advocacy education
• Moot court competition
• Legal publications

Headquarters

HQ city

Newport Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: ACTL collects membership dues from Fellows. Fellows can pay dues through the member portal.
2. Educational Programs and CLE: The College sells educational materials and programs for Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit through the website.
3. Charitable Contributions: Members can make charitable contributions to the Foundation of the ACTL.
4. Publications and Products: ACTL sells publications and other products through its website.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The American College of Trial Lawyers is an invitation-only honorary professional association of trial lawyers (Fellows) based in the U.S. and Canada. It offers Fellowship membership, runs advocacy-education programs including the National Moot Court Competition founded in 1950, hosts the Trial Tested podcast, and publishes materials such as the In-Depth magazine for its Fellows.

Product overview

ACTL operates as a membership organization for trial lawyers, not a technology company. Its core offerings include the Find a Fellow directory for locating trial attorney Fellows, multiple moot court and trial competitions (National Moot Court Competition, National Trial Competition, Gale Cup, Sopinka Cup), the Trial Advocacy Program for developing trial lawyers, and educational resources including The Journal, Trial Tested podcast, and a Resource Library. The Fellow Hub provides members-only access to resources, polls, and administrative tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ACTL Fellowship (membership) Invitation-only honorary Fellowship, conferring peer recognition, voting rights, and access to ACTL programs for distinguished U.S. and Canadian trial lawyers.
• National Moot Court Competition Annual moot-court trial-advocacy competition run by ACTL as part of its teaching-of-advocacy mission.
• In-Depth magazine Official periodical publication of ACTL, distributed to its Fellows.
• Trial Tested podcast Regular audio podcast series hosted by Amy Gunn for the American College of Trial Lawyers, spotlighting trial-lawyer practice and the College's work.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• National Constitution CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe College is proud to partner with the NCC to teach civics to students through their Peer-to-Peer Scholar Exchange Program. This partnership supports civic education initiatives.
• New York City Bar AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-sponsors the National Moot Court Competition, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2025. The competition involves over 150 accredited law schools and 1,000+ students.
• Texas Young Lawyers AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACTL assists TYLA in the organization and administration of the National Trial Competition, including recruitment of law schools and Fellows to serve as judges.
• Weil Gotshal (Hosting Partner for Trial Advocacy Program)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerThe 6th ACTL Trial Advocacy Program was hosted in Manhattan offices of Weil Gotshal in June 2025. Prior programs were hosted at sponsoring law firms.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Inner Circle of Advocates: Inner Circle is a highly selective (100-member cap) invitational society of accomplished plaintiffs' trial lawyers. It serves the same prestige function as ACTL but on the plaintiffs' bar side.
• International Academy of Trial Lawyers (IATL): IATL is an invitation-only global fellowship limited to 500 trial lawyers, modeled similarly to ACTL with capped membership and elite peer recognition. It competes for attention and prestige with ACTL at the very top of the trial bar.
• American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA): ABOTA is an invitation-only national association of trial lawyers with state chapters and similar membership caps based on board certification and trial experience. It is the closest direct comparator to ACTL's invitation-only Fellowship model in the U.S. civil trial bar.
• International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC): IADC is an invitation-only, international association of defense trial lawyers focused on civil defense and insurance practice. Membership is capped and selection emphasizes trial experience and ethics, closely paralleling ACTL's model.

Broad incumbents

• National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA): NBTA is the certifying body for the Board Certified Trial Lawyer credential across the U.S. While not a fellowship, it overlaps with ACTL's role as a gatekeeper of trial-lawyer prestige and shares the trial-lawyer recognition niche.
• Defense Research Institute (DRI): DRI is the largest membership organization for defense-side trial lawyers, with a broader and less selective membership model than ACTL. It competes for the same dues-paying defense bar members and offers CLE, networking, and publications.
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL): NACDL is a broad-based membership organization for criminal defense lawyers offering CLE and advocacy. It is a comparable legal-membership-association model but with an open rather than invitational membership structure.
• Federal Bar Association (FBA): FBA is a nationwide voluntary bar association of lawyers with federal practice connections. It shares the legal-membership organization model and CLE focus but with broader and less exclusive membership criteria than ACTL.

Others

• American College of Real Estate Lawyers (ACREL): ACREL is a parallel 'American College of ___ Lawyers' invitational fellowship for real estate practitioners. It uses the same honorary-college template as ACTL and is structurally a sister organization in the legal-honorary niche.

Emerging players

• American Bar Foundation (ABF): ABF is the honorary research and policy society of the legal profession, with Fellows elected for distinguished careers. It overlaps with ACTL in functioning as a prestige layer for elite lawyers but emphasizes scholarship over trial advocacy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ACTLOfficial
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC49HrCu3gmSx8fDrw3YMV3A
• Facebookfacebook.com/american-college-of-trial-lawyers-actl-176099272420075
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1583702
• Instagraminstagram.com/actl_national_office

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about American College of Trial Lawyers