The UT Mock Trial team set new records this year at the national tournament in Minneapolis.
UT was the only school at the tournament to have both teams place in the top 15. Team 512, composed of seasoned students, tied for third place. Team 523, the novice team, finished 15th. The team also won the Spirit of American Mock Trial Association award - given to the team that best exemplifies the ideals of honesty, civility and fair play - for the third year in a row.
Government senior Koby Kirkland was the only attorney at the competition with a perfect score, which earned him the award of top attorney. Judges presiding over each of the four rounds of the competition graded members on a team and individual level.
"I got some individual attorney awards this year, but I really just lucked out at the competition," Kirkland said.
This year's case was different than those in previous years. Teams usually try civil or criminal cases, but this time they were responsible for trying the sentencing phase of a trial involving a man who had stabbed a social worker - who was coming to remove his child from the home - with a needle infected with HIV. The man pled guilty, and students representing the prosecution side argued for a higher sentence, while students on the defense side argued for a lesser sentence.
"This was definitely a challenge, especially for someone like myself who has been around for so long and has never seen anything like this case," said Catherine Stanford, captain for team 523 and president of the UT Mock Trial Club. "It was definitely a fun case, too."
More than 500 mock trial teams nationwide competed in five tournaments throughout the fall and spring semesters. The top 64 teams were invited to compete at the national level April 4 through 6. It is rare that UT does not finish in the top 10 at this level, said Jamal Alsaffar, an Austin attorney and the team's coach.
"This particular group of kids is the brightest collection of students UT has to offer," said Alsaffar, who was a member of the team while attending UT and has coached the team for the past eight years. "They are smarter than their competitors and willing to work harder than anybody else."
Alsaffar said the coaches set very high expectations for team members and taught the students how to be good, persuasive attorneys.
Government senior Leila Wright, who acted as a witness for the prosecution and defense, said UT's team was asked to scrimmage with the University of Virginia's team before the competition started. UVA has been the national champion for the last two years.
"Teams try to figure out who is the best team to scrimmage," Wright said. "We thought it was pretty cool they picked us."
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