Announcements

6.22.10

The summer 2010 edition of The Docket, the official newsletter of Virginia Mock Trial, is now available here.

4.21.10

Virginia Mock Trial wraps up one of its most successful seasons ever by being the only program in the country to earn two top-five finishes in a nationals division.

Team 1116 finishes third with a record of 6-2, having faced the toughest schedule in the division (CS: 20.5) and suffering its only losses in split ballots with defending champion Northwood A and new champion NYU A. Team 1117 finishes fifth at 5-2-1, suffering its only losses to NYU A. Team 1117's record and finish are the highest by a B team at nationals in VaMT history. Rohan Sebastian earns his sixth career witness award (but first All-American) and Max Kirby earns his first-ever attorney award.

Virginia Mock Trial finishes the 2009-10 season having won 6 of the 10 tournaments it attended and never having finished lower than 3rd at any tournament.

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Mock Trial Memories

 

What is Collegiate Mock Trial?

Mock Trial is an extracurricular activity which provides undergraduate students the opportunity to compete on a national level.

Tournaments consist of trials between plaintiff and defense teams. Each team consists of 6-10 members, six of whom will actually compete at any given time (three as attorneys, three as witnesses). Each trial focuses on a single case, alternating annually between a criminal or civil legal issue.

Who competes for Mock Trial at UVa?

Virginia Mock Trial is open to all undergraduate students. Students with interest in the law, as well as experience in theater or public speaking are encouraged to try out, although neither is necessary. Graduates of Virginia Mock Trial currently attend law school at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and UVa.

Try-outs are held early in the fall semester. For more information, please see the recruitment page.

How successful is Mock Trial at UVa?

Very. Virginia Mock Trial won the national championship in 2006 and 2007 and came a single ballot away from appearing in the national final round in 2005 and 2010 as well. Since the fall of 2005, Virginia Mock Trial has won 23 tournaments---more than half of the those that it attended. Virginia Mock Trial has won its regional tournament for five consecutive years and has won its super regional during each of the two years since AMTA switched to a two-stage system of qualifying for nationals.

A central feature of Virginia Mock Trial is its depth. The program's "B" team has won at least one tournament for five consecutive years, and Virginia Mock Trial is the only program in the United States that has qualified two teams to the national championship tournament for each of the last four years. The B team also has enjoyed great success at nationals, with three Top 10 finishes and four All-American awards since 2007. In 2010, a B team that included five new program members finished 5th at the national championship tournament---the highest finish by a B team in Virginia Mock Trial's 15-year history.

Following 3rd and 5th place finishes at the 2010 national championship tournament, Virginia Mock Trial will begin the 2010-2011 season as one of two programs with multiple teams ranked in the top 15 of the country.