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Photo courtesy of Jelmer Tiete

The Mock Trial A Team placed second out of 52 teams at its third competition of the semester at the University of Pennsylvania in November.

BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published December 2, 2010

Candice Nguyen ’11 says Mock Trial at Swarthmore is a fairy tale of a club, with unbelievable growth and success. The idea started with her and Asher Sered ’11 and Jon Schaefer ’11 during their New Student Orientation. The club only had six members that first year, the bare minimum required to compete, but now that the three founding members are seniors, it has expanded to 32 members. And the team is not just competing, but winning.

Mock Trial is an event where teams of students from colleges all over the country study and practice trying a fictional case. Students play the roles of either lawyers or witnesses and compete against other schools, following the procedures of the real judicial system.

Though the team is now doing well, it had humble beginnings just a few years ago.

According to Sered, the team dates back to a pre-law information session during his Orientation. Someone asked if there was a Mock Trial team, and Gigi Simeone, the pre-law advisor, said that there wasn’t, but that “a very pro-active freshman” had e-mailed her about it over the summer. “And Candice was that freshman,” he said.

After the information session, he and Schaefer, both of whom had done Mock Trial in high school, went to talk to Nguyen, and they began to take the steps towards forming a club. At the time, the Peaslee Debate Society was the only public speaking activity for students.

“I went to a few meetings, but I didn’t really feel it was the place for me,” Nguyen said. “I thought that Mock Trial could be an interesting forum for people to meet and learn about the way the judicial system works.”

She added that the activity is for more than just pre-law students. Schaefer and Sered are no longer planning to go to law school.

Getting the group started was difficult for the first-years. “Everything was an obstacle when we were starting,” Sered said. He said that “basic logistical things,” like getting chartered, renting buses and finding and booking hotel rooms seemed “mysterious.”

But they had a steep learning curve, were chartered that first year, and now have enough people to form three divisions within the team.

Now, the Mock Trial team is split into three sub-teams, one called the “A” team, and two “B” teams. The “A” team is comprised of the members that are expected to score most highly.

Last semester, Swarthmore won the Spirit of the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) award. “That was nice, but it was more a ‘you’re the team that everyone liked!’ award,” Schaefer said. This semester, there have been even more awards and recognitions.

At the first tournament, at Washington and Jefferson University, six Swarthmore students won awards. Three won as attorneys, and three won as witnesses.

At the second tournament at Colgate University, members of the team won two more awards. Sered pointed out that most of the award winners this semester have been first-year students.

In a third competition, at the University of Pennsylvania, the A team finished second place out of 52 teams, while one of the B teams tied for fourth place. At the next competition, the teams placed first and fifth with an attorney on the B team winning an individual award.

Sered pointed out that the more highly a team places, the less likely it is that individuals will win awards. “Individual awards are given when you’re the best in a particular competition, so if you’re on a really good team you won’t stand out as much,” he said.

Unlike other teams from larger universities with law schools, the team does not have a lawyer to act as its coach. A local attorney named Stephen Imbriglia serves in an advisory role, but otherwise the team is largely self-governed.

Because of their experience, Nguyen, Schaefer and Sered are hugely important to the team, and Rosanna Kim ’13, captain of the B team, is concerned that after they graduate, the team will not be as strong. “They’re a great source of knowledge, and they give so much support and encouragement.” It will be a young team next year, since it currently has 22 first-years.

But Klara Aizupitis ’13, social chair and outreach coordinator for the team, has big plans for their future. Next year, she hopes the team will host its first invitational meet here at Swarthmore. She is optimistic about the team and said, “It’s going really well … We’re a lot of fun, and more people should join.”

Kim said that it was exciting that a college Mock Trial website called Perjuries is beginning to talk about them and rank them more highly than previously. Last year, they were ranked last, but now they’re generating more positive buzz.

Jeremy Rapaport-Stein ’14 is glad that he decided to join the team. “Mock Trial was my favorite thing that I did in high school. If you’re a big law nerd like I am … it’s a lot of fun, definitely a lot of fun.”

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