Members of the UCCS Mock Trial Club will head to St. Louis late next week to compete among 24 teams in the opening round of a mock trial national championship. The eight-member team of UCCS students won its place in the national tournament as a winner of a Feb. 15-16 regional tournament.
The UCCS team triumphed over teams from Colorado, Kansas and Iowa schools that included CU-Boulder and Colorado State University.
“This is totally awesome because this is only the second year of the program,” exclaimed Rob Burton, a junior English major and president of the Mock Trial Club.
It’s also awesome, considering that most other institutions with similar clubs have law schools with law students and professors to coach their teams, Burton said. He said local attorneys occasionally assist as unofficial coaches, but the UCCS club is run entirely by students.
A mock trial is just that, Burton explained. A hypothetical legal case is assigned to the teams and the members determine legal strategies for both defense and prosecution before eventually presenting arguments before a judge. Burton said this year’s assignment is a murder case. The mock attorneys chose three witnesses from a selection of ten and built cases to present at trial. The American Mock Trial Association, which governs the competition, sets rules and instructions, and as competition progresses, will provide new developments in the case as might occur in a real trial. The changes might help or hinder possible arguments so the mock attorneys must continue to revise strategies, Burton said.
The UCCS Mock Trial Club has 15 members, enough to field two teams. While both teams competed in the regional competition, only one earned the right to go to the opening round national championship to be held March 19-21 at Washington University in St. Louis. Winners of this round will advance to a final round national championship. The competing UCCS team includes Burton, Hazel Talamante, team captain, Jessi Steele, club vice president, Kyle Peters, Colin Lord, Jessica Briscoe, Michelle Wood, and Christine McDermott.
Patrick Yarnell, instructor, philosophy, serves as faculty advisor to the club, and Jenny Watson, assistant council, has observed club practice sessions.
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