Â鶹ÊÓƵ places among top teams at UCLA's UCLAssic Mock Trial Invitational and enters into spring competitive season with top finishes and individual awards at numerous tournaments this past fall.
Senior Baron Smith also took home an individual outstanding witness award from the tournament. The UCLAssic was the last in a series of four tournaments that Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s mock trial teams competed in over the course of the fall semester.
At UCLA, six Â鶹ÊÓƵ students competed in four rounds of trial simulations. To earn the eighth-place finish, Â鶹ÊÓƵ won in competitive rounds against teams from Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s successes at UCLA’s tournament were reflective of the Mock Trial team’s performance all season. At Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s own Carolina Classic Invitational in October, Â鶹ÊÓƵ placed in the top six teams, besting teams from schools such as Duke University. Â鶹ÊÓƵ also had a member receive an outstanding witness award at the Carolina Classic. Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s sucesss continued at Penn State’s Happy Valley Mock Trial Invitational, coming away with a third place overall finish, winning rounds against Penn State, American University and Rutgers University. Â鶹ÊÓƵ also competed at Columbia University’s Big Apple Invitational Tournament in New York City this fall. At Columbia, junior David Comerford won an Outstanding Attorney award and Â鶹ÊÓƵ had four competitive rounds against teams from Tufts, Northwood, Columbia and Georgetown Universities.
The final tournament Â鶹ÊÓƵ competed at during the fall was Duke University’s Tobacco Road Invitational. Â鶹ÊÓƵ narrowly missed a top finish overall after a highly competitive final round against Northwood University. However, at the tournament Â鶹ÊÓƵ still won in rounds against teams from the University of Pennsylvania and Howard University. Â鶹ÊÓƵ also took home an individual outstanding witness award from Duke’s invitational.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s two mock trial teams are currently preparing for a regional tournament hosted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in February. This tournament will determine which teams move on to compete at the national level. Â鶹ÊÓƵ has advanced to the national level of mock trial competition in each of the past three years.
Each February, more than 600 mock trials teams compete in 24 regional tournaments around the country, with seven teams moving on from each regional to one of eight opening round championships in March. From each opening round championship, six teams will move on to compete in the AMTA National Championship Tournament.
From the more than 600 registered AMTA teams, only 48 reach the National Championship Tournament.
The Â鶹ÊÓƵ team is coached by Michael Koeltzow, L’10, and Kristen DelForge, a former Â鶹ÊÓƵ mock trial member and current 3L at Â鶹ÊÓƵ Law.