Two mock trial teams talk their way to the top

After months of preparation, one three-round  tournament separates two Boston University Mock Trial teams from a national title.

The BU teams are taking their debate skills to the next level following success in several competitions and competing in the 27th annual National Championship Tournament this weekend.

The tournament, which is sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association and hosted by Duke University Law School, will take place over a three-day period in Des Moines, Iowa starting on April 15.

BU registers three teams every year, said BUMT co-president Tucker Chambers, a College of Arts and Sciences senior.

Two of the three BU teams finished in the top six at the Opening Round Championship Series Tournament in White Plains, N.Y. in early March. One BUMT team finished in third place and a second in fifth, qualifying the two teams for the national tournament.

“[Mock Trial] starts at the beginning of the year with about 600 teams and they compete in 24 different regional competitions,” said AMTA president David Nelmark.

By the end of the season, the top six from each of the regional tournaments advance to the national championship.

“[BUMT’s] accomplishment this year is remarkable in that only eight programs in the entire country qualified two teams for the National Championship Tournament, so they are in very elite company there,” Nelmark said.

Nelmark described the tournament as a “civil lawsuit” concerning product liability.

“A toddler swallowed some beads that were produced by a toy company. The beads have a chemical on it and allegedly killed the child,” he said.

A BUMT team has made it to the national tournament 15 years out of the 17 since it was founded in 1997, Chambers said.

The teams start preparing for tournaments in the fall, meeting two to three times per week, Chambers said. When they are at their busiest, BUMT members meet up to six times per week.

CAS senior and BUMT co-president Lorenzo Cabantog said BUMT has defeated teams from Yale University, Harvard College, Princeton University and other universities. Unlike other teams, BUMT has freshmen competing in the tournament.

“At present we have nine freshmen competing at the National Championship Tournament,” Cabantog said. “This speaks very highly of the leadership that gets everyone prepared as well as the organization’s talent as a whole. Our members undergo a rigorous audition process where nearly 100 people try out every year for eight to 10 spots.”

Cabantog said he feels the teams have sufficiently prepared at meetings, where they practice their parts as lawyers and witnesses, as well as courtroom demeanor and other skills necessary to win a case.

“The friends I’ve had the privilege of competing with have made mock trial the most rewarding and worthwhile experience,” he said. “I could not have asked for a better group of people to learn and grow with.”