After placing fifth in the regional tournament held at Utica College last weekend, the Dartmouth Mock Trial Society will compete in the Silver Flight national competition for the second time in its three-year history.
Between 60 and 100 schools will participate in the tournament held in St. Paul, Minn. on March 28 and 29. The top four schools will progress to the Gold Flight national tournament in Des Moines, Iowa from April 9-11.
"I think that if they can get the time to work together, they should be strong contenders," said Dickey Center Fellow Weyman Lundquist '52, the team's adviser. "They have been very effectively self-taught. They're also smart."
Participants in mock trial tournaments simulate court cases, playing the roles of witnesses and attorneys for both the plaintiff and the defense. The winning teams of each round are matched against each other for an assigned number of rounds.
"It's more than acting," Mock Trial Society President Jay Bregman '01 said.
Bregman said the mock trials are a combination of "thinking on your feet" and responding effectively to questions -- not just "how well you pull the character part of it off."
In the regional competition, Bregman, Rosanna Taormina '99, Renan Varghese '01 and Stephanie Hogan '02 won four of the possible 10 awards for their performance as attorneys, and Kevin Goldman '99 won an award for his role as a witness.
The competing teams in the tournament represented between 20 and 25 schools from throughout the Northeast.
After the "intensive" tryouts during Fall term, the team practiced on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for a few hours per week, Bregman said.
"I think we had a shorter preparation time than a lot of other teams," Hogan said. "We aren't always prepared for everything that comes up, but we're able to react well to it. We can work together to work around problems."
The team began its preparations for the regional tournament by researching the fictional trial which would be the focus of the competition.
In the trial, the family of a person killed in a plane crash sued the company that made fuel gauges for the airplane. The family alleged that the company caused the crash.
The case facts are adjusted slightly for the national competition, but the basic premise remains the same.
"My favorite part is the competition itself," Hogan said. "It involves a lot of quick preparation and thinking on your feet. It's a good thing to learn how to do."
Bregman said the team's 15 members "get along absolutely brilliantly."
Lundquist said he is not surprised by the team's success up to this point and is hopeful for its success in the national competition.
"I think they've got a good variety of people," he said. "They're diverse. They have common sense and compassion, which are both necessary to be good trial lawyers. They also have the willingness to listen and think, not just talk."
