For the first time since the club’s creation in 2008, the Saint Anselm College Mock Trial team has passed the regional tournament and is advancing to the Opening Round Championship Tournament, the tournament that immediately precedes the national tournament.

The AMTA Regional Mock Trial Tournament was held from Feb 1 to Feb 3 at Saint Anselm College, with 24 teams from 14 New England schools in attendance.

The tournament was held at St. As for the second year in a row, which brought pride to many members of the Mock Trial Team.

“The fact that this was the second consecutive year that AMTA chose Saint Anselm College to host this regional tournament is a testament to the organizers and volunteers who put countless hours preparing for this event as well as our school’s welcoming Benedictine hospitality,” said senior Mock Trial captain Christopher Knight about the college hosting the tournament.

This year, the American Mock Trial Association sent out a case entitled Andy Allen, as surviving spouse of Lee Allen v. Neptune Underwater Expeditions. In this case, Lee Allen passed away while on a scuba dive with Neptune Underwater Expeditions, and the trial was held to determine whether Lee Allen’s death was due to recklessness by Neptune Underwater Expeditions or by Lee Allen himself.

“The Allen’s paid Neptune Underwater Expeditions for a week long scuba diving trip near the coast of the Bahamas. Many reckless decisions were made by the profit-driven company, which ultimately caused the death of Lee Allen. My client was abandoned at the site of the Hepburn, a shipwreck that is 180 feet under the ocean where the divers were planned to go on July 7th, 2011,” Junior Guy Sergi, who served as an attorney for the Plaintiff, described the case.

The Mock Trial Team at Saint Anselm College consists of sixteen members, ten of whom competed in the competition this year. Sergi, Casey Chambers, and Margaret O’Leary served as attorneys for the prosecution, with Caleigh MacDonald, Rachel Dushkewich, and Katlyn Delaney serving as attorneys for the defense. Mack Douglas, Chris Knight, Suzanne Colangeli, and Kevin Harris acted as witnesses for the trial.

The team practices three times a week, Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, for about six or seven hours a week. At the beginning of the school year, students tried out for roles, and aspects such as experience, dedication, and talent are factored into who is assigned what role. Those who were not chosen for the team still make significant contributions to the team, such as helping to write opening and closing statements, work that Knight describes as invaluable.

“It also involved quite a bit of individual preparation on my part in terms of memorizing direct and cross examinations and really familiarizing myself with the case material, so I would say overall it came to about 10-12 hours a week and perhaps more once trial came closer,” said Junior Rachel Dushkewich.

The top seven teams from the regional tournament would move on to the next round of tournaments, called Opening Round Championship Tournament. At the end of the weekend, St. As had been tied with Dartmouth

College for seventh place, but won the tie breaker to move on to the next round.

“We tied Dartmouth College in terms of our scores and win-loss ratio, so we wound up winning the seventh and final spot after the scoring judges went through several mathematical tie-breaker techniques! I’m excited to say that each member of the team was mentioned by a scoring judge as either a top witness or top attorney during a trial!” said Dushkewich.

The semifinal competition will be held from March 15-17 at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. Colleges such as Tufts University, Brandeis University, and Trinity College will be attending the tournament. Members of the Mock Trial Team are looking forward to the upcoming tournament and are pleased with the team’s success thus far.

Knight said, “since this is the first time the Saint Anselm Mock Trial team will be moving onto the semifinals, I have no expectations about how the upcoming tournament will unfold. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to our team representing Saint Anselm College well, and I sincerely hope all of our hard work this past year is rewarded with a bid to the national tournament.”

“I’m really looking forward to going up against some top-notch competitors. Most of the teams progressing have had mock trial programs for years and go to Nationals year after year, so we’ll get to see some great attorneys and witnesses pulling out all the stops! We learn so much from other teams at regionals, so I can’t even imagine just how much better we’ll get from going up against the crème de la crème!” said Dushkewich.

The experience has proven very beneficial to the team members, several of whom believe that they have gained professional experience by working on the cases.

Dushkewich continued “I really love the intellectual challenge it presents. Performing well means more than memorizing rules and case materials. It means thinking quickly on your feet and applying information in a split second. Also, it means being able to tailor your approach each time you perform – something that worked well during one trial may not be effective in another. A good lawyer or witness needs to be able to assess the individual scoring judges and opposing team members to figure out how to get their points across most effectively. Also, I love that our team really becomes a family by the end of the season! We focus on making the experience incredibly fun and enjoyable which mitigates a lot of the stress that comes with the competitive nature of the team.”

“Mock trial has given me a greater knowledge of the legal process, the formal and informal steps. As in real courtrooms, we practice trial etiquette and case preparation. But I would argue that seventy percent of success comes from reading and playing to the judge’s personality. At the end of the day, persuading the judge and members of the jury is what defines victory in the courtroom. No doubt this knowledge is a valuable result of my experience in mock trial, but the best part of my mock trial is spending time with my other team members,” said Sergi.