DLA Weblog

Dartmouth's Mock Trial Soc. Wins Again

This past weekend, Dartmouth's Mock Trial Society competed in the Manchester Community College Regional Tournament in Manchester, CT. Big Green teams took home top honors for the College, and for the third year in a row, Dartmouth Mock Trial Society earned a bid to a national championship. Jenny Fisher won an award as Best Witness. The full PR follows
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Manchester, CT - The Dartmouth Mock Trial Society completed the Manchester Regional Tournament from January 28th-29th, qualifying one team to the National Intercollegiate Mock Trial Tournament. Dartmouth's two teams were outstanding at the first of this year's regional tournaments, winning individual awards, garnering numerous citations, and making a strong showing against tough competition. The Manchester Regional tournament hosted competitive teams from traditional mock trial powerhouses, including Yale, Manchester, Boston University, and Brown, and is well-known for its overall level of difficulty,

In mock trial competitions participants prepare in the roles of attorneys and witnesses based upon a nationwide fact pattern provided each year by a national collegiate body, the American Mock Trial Association. Students then try their cases against teams from other colleges and universities by competing in regional and national-level tournaments. Rounds are judged by practicing attorneys or judges, and competitors are scored based upon the professionalism and effectiveness of the cases they present. The top teams from each tournament are given bids to the National Intercollegiate Tournament in either Florida or Kentucky (formerly known as the "Silver Flight nationals") and the National Championship Tournament in Des Moines (previously the "Gold Flight national"). Competitions consist of four rounds with two judges each, for a total of eight potential "ballots" to win each tournament.

Team Green, with attorneys Cordelia Zukerman (06), Stuart Reid (08), Sean Macrae (08) and William Dekrey (08) and witnesses Jennifer Fisher (08), Elizabeth Kolleeny (08), and Sarah Stern (08), finished with a record of 6-2 earning 4th overall tournament, only losing two close ballots to the eventual 1st place team. Their outstanding record earned them a bid to the National Intercollegiate Tournament. Fisher was recognized for her individual performance, winning one of ten Outstanding Witness Awards as one of the top participants at the competition.

Team Orange, with attorneys Evan Mendelson (06), Norah Comstock (08), and Benjamin Wilson (07), and witnesses Ozea Brown (08), Paul Bousquet (08), Dave Stanek (07), and Dan Racic (07), finished the tournament with a record of 3-5. The team put up a strong showing against very stiff competition, with several members repeatedly receiving recognition for their excellent performances.

Since its inception during the 1996-97 school year, Dartmouth's performance at regional tournaments has been improving with almost perfect consistency. Dartmouth's first year of competition resulted in a bid to the gold flight tournament. After a brief slump in '97-'98, Dartmouth went on to win a spot to the silver flight tournament in '98-'99, a bid to the gold flight tournament in '99-'00, two bids to the silver flight tournament in '00-'01, and one bid each to the silver and gold tournaments in '01-'02. In addition, Dartmouth finished 1st at the silver flight tournament of '01, earning another bid to that year's gold flight. Since that time Dartmouth has continued to send two teams annually to the national tournaments and improved its performance at the national competition every year. The precedent that has been set by the two Dartmouth teams at the Manchester Regional means that the remaining two competition teams will have a tough act to follow at the Worcester Regional Tournament, which will be held during the weekend of February 26th.

Dartmouth's Mock Trial Society and its competition teams are student-led and student-directed.

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In its press release, the Dartmouth Mock Trial society thanked its faculty advisor Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, as well as Bob Donin and Weyman Lundquist '52 for their support and advice. The Dartmouth Mock Trial Society expressed gratitude for the continued financial support of the Committee on Student Organizations and the Student Activities Office.

More information about the Society is at its website at: www.dartmouth.edu/~mtrial

Doug Simpson '70
DLA Webster