Mock Trial Paladins Rock the Big Apple
Thursday, 04 February 2010 20:42 | 
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Friends of the Furman Mock Trial Team:
This weekend, the Paladins brought their light and magic show to the Downtown Invitational Classic Tournament, hosted by New York University,at the federal district courthouse in Brooklyn, NY. This tournament brought together the most elite field of the entire season, save the national championship. And I am delighted to report that the Paladins captured the title! This tournament has been staged by NYU since 2006, and Furman has won the title twice; other title holders are Columbia, 2006 and Harvard, 2008. Not bad company to keep.
The NYU tournament was able to put four scoring judges in each trial, rather than the normal two, which made dominating the field that much moredifficult, given the extraordinary subjectivity of trial advocacy.Additionally, the NYU organizers wished for the tournament champion to be determined by a 5th round trial between the teams that were in 1st and 2nd place after four trials. Normally, a title is determined at the end of four trials. At the end of four trials, Furman was in 2nd place with an
11-4-1 record, having swept Yale and Richmond, winng three ballots and tying one against Michigan, and losing all four ballots to Virginia. As a result, Virginia ended in 1st place.
The championship round, therefore, pitted the Paladins against the Cavaliers of UVA; in this round, Furman got to argue the defense side of the case, and, there were 15 judges! And Furman won 13 of the 15 ballots avenging our earlier loss on the prosecution side of the case.
2007's Downtown title was very sweet, and I will always remember it with great fondness, just as I will always cherish the 1999 National Consolation Tournament title. But I am confident that the only title that will top this weekend's victory is winning a national championship. The trial that I watched our students stage on Sunday afternoon against a team that had whipped them in the same courtroom only hours before was nearly flawless. Our students were resilient against this season's juggernaut team from the University of Virginia--a team that entered the tournament as its presumptive champion, and showed why they were expected to add the NYU title to their string of victories. What UVA didn't expect was that the Paladins were only bloodied by the morning trial. The didn't understand the fire and the hunger that emanates from our students and its coaching staff. As a result, our students rose to the challenge and then exceeded it in the single best performance I've ever seen given by a group
of Furman mock trial participants. My only regret is that more of you were not able to see our students. Katherine Myers '10 got the jury in the palm of her hand with a stunning opening statement, and then shut down the State's case with a brilliant set of questions that showed that UVA's expert was no expert at all, and therefore, could not offer key testimony to make the State's case against the defendant. The UVA attorney corps fought tooth and nail to get the witness qualified as an expert, but each time Katherine shut them down, and finally, the judge said, "He's NO expert. Move on." A hush came over the courtroom! Thomas Hydrick '13, our affable and brilliant first-year student, stood his ground against the seasoned students from UVA and delivered a devastating cross-examination of the co-defendant who turned state's evidence. Latasia Fields wowed the audience with her portrayal of Alex Grace, a Hollywood movie actress who offered the defendant an alibi, Morgan, a personal assistant to the decedent, played her role as if she had just come straight from the set of "Jersey Shore," and Will was the extremely sincere, if somewhat awkward, forsenic entomologist, who knows too much about the North American Blowfly and its lifecycle. Meredith Dempsey closed the deal with her normal flourish and sealed our victory. It was a stunning ensemble performance--a perfect balance between attorney and witness corps.
Our championship team is led by Meredith Dempsey '10 and Will Gyauch '10,both from Lexington, SC. They are joined by:
Katherine Myers '10, Columbia, SC
Thomas Hydrick '13, Columbia, SC
Jan-Paul Lukas '10, Berlin, MD
Brice Cantrell '11, Pawtucket, RI
Morgan Bridgman '12, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Latasia Fields '10, Charlotte, NC
I have attached a photo of the team with their trophies--the smaller one is for our permanent collection, while the large one (with the Empire State Building) is the traveling tournament, and it wil be making its way back to Greenville in a few weeks.
Furman also fielded a team at the Ramblin' Wreck Tournament hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA, last weekend. We finished the tournament with a record of 3-4-1, winning and tying against Georgia, defeating Florida, winning and losing against South Carolina and the College of Charleston. The lion's share of this team are relative newcomers to mock trial, so I am proud of their efforts, too. They are preparing diligently for the regional tournament in two weeks in Chapel Hill, NC.
Alex Meier '10, Oviedo, Florida, was awarded an outstanding attorney award on the prosecution side of the case.
In addition to Mr. Meier, the Georgia Tech team members are:
Emily Bridges '12, Greenville, SC
Catie Donnelly '13, Charleston, SC
Chade Frankllin '11, Milledgeville, SC
Dwayne Barrs '10, Lawrenceville, GA
Ekow Bartels-Kodwo '13, Accra, Ghana
Tom Lewis '13, Dallas, TX
Shanada Adams '13, Rock Hill, SC
While our students work incredibly hard on this activity, they are coached by a blue-ribbon coaching staff. Hats off to D. Brad Rustin '03, Steven Buckingham '03, Ashleigh Ward '03, Mark Fessler '05, Dawn Williams '05, Libby Weith '06, Dr. Margaret Oakes, Jessica Rustin, and Titus Nichols--the very, very best coaching staff in all of the land.
Still High from the Sweet Taste of Victory--
Paladins are off to the South Beach Invitational this weekend in Miami, Florida--another elite event.
Ciao,
Glen
This weekend, the Paladins brought their light and magic show to the Downtown Invitational Classic Tournament, hosted by New York University,at the federal district courthouse in Brooklyn, NY. This tournament brought together the most elite field of the entire season, save the national championship. And I am delighted to report that the Paladins captured the title! This tournament has been staged by NYU since 2006, and Furman has won the title twice; other title holders are Columbia, 2006 and Harvard, 2008. Not bad company to keep.
The NYU tournament was able to put four scoring judges in each trial, rather than the normal two, which made dominating the field that much moredifficult, given the extraordinary subjectivity of trial advocacy.Additionally, the NYU organizers wished for the tournament champion to be determined by a 5th round trial between the teams that were in 1st and 2nd place after four trials. Normally, a title is determined at the end of four trials. At the end of four trials, Furman was in 2nd place with an11-4-1 record, having swept Yale and Richmond, winng three ballots and tying one against Michigan, and losing all four ballots to Virginia. As a result, Virginia ended in 1st place.
The championship round, therefore, pitted the Paladins against the Cavaliers of UVA; in this round, Furman got to argue the defense side of the case, and, there were 15 judges! And Furman won 13 of the 15 ballots avenging our earlier loss on the prosecution side of the case.
2007's Downtown title was very sweet, and I will always remember it with great fondness, just as I will always cherish the 1999 National Consolation Tournament title. But I am confident that the only title that will top this weekend's victory is winning a national championship. The trial that I watched our students stage on Sunday afternoon against a team that had whipped them in the same courtroom only hours before was nearly flawless. Our students were resilient against this season's juggernaut team from the University of Virginia--a team that entered the tournament as its presumptive champion, and showed why they were expected to add the NYU title to their string of victories. What UVA didn't expect was that the Paladins were only bloodied by the morning trial. The didn't understand the fire and the hunger that emanates from our students and its coaching staff. As a result, our students rose to the challenge and then exceeded it in the single best performance I've ever seen given by a group
of Furman mock trial participants. My only regret is that more of you were not able to see our students. Katherine Myers '10 got the jury in the palm of her hand with a stunning opening statement, and then shut down the State's case with a brilliant set of questions that showed that UVA's expert was no expert at all, and therefore, could not offer key testimony to make the State's case against the defendant. The UVA attorney corps fought tooth and nail to get the witness qualified as an expert, but each time Katherine shut them down, and finally, the judge said, "He's NO expert. Move on." A hush came over the courtroom! Thomas Hydrick '13, our affable and brilliant first-year student, stood his ground against the seasoned students from UVA and delivered a devastating cross-examination of the co-defendant who turned state's evidence. Latasia Fields wowed the audience with her portrayal of Alex Grace, a Hollywood movie actress who offered the defendant an alibi, Morgan, a personal assistant to the decedent, played her role as if she had just come straight from the set of "Jersey Shore," and Will was the extremely sincere, if somewhat awkward, forsenic entomologist, who knows too much about the North American Blowfly and its lifecycle. Meredith Dempsey closed the deal with her normal flourish and sealed our victory. It was a stunning ensemble performance--a perfect balance between attorney and witness corps.
Our championship team is led by Meredith Dempsey '10 and Will Gyauch '10,both from Lexington, SC. They are joined by:
Katherine Myers '10, Columbia, SC
Thomas Hydrick '13, Columbia, SC
Jan-Paul Lukas '10, Berlin, MD
Brice Cantrell '11, Pawtucket, RI
Morgan Bridgman '12, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Latasia Fields '10, Charlotte, NC
I have attached a photo of the team with their trophies--the smaller one is for our permanent collection, while the large one (with the Empire State Building) is the traveling tournament, and it wil be making its way back to Greenville in a few weeks.
Furman also fielded a team at the Ramblin' Wreck Tournament hosted by Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA, last weekend. We finished the tournament with a record of 3-4-1, winning and tying against Georgia, defeating Florida, winning and losing against South Carolina and the College of Charleston. The lion's share of this team are relative newcomers to mock trial, so I am proud of their efforts, too. They are preparing diligently for the regional tournament in two weeks in Chapel Hill, NC.
Alex Meier '10, Oviedo, Florida, was awarded an outstanding attorney award on the prosecution side of the case.
In addition to Mr. Meier, the Georgia Tech team members are:
Emily Bridges '12, Greenville, SC
Catie Donnelly '13, Charleston, SC
Chade Frankllin '11, Milledgeville, SC
Dwayne Barrs '10, Lawrenceville, GA
Ekow Bartels-Kodwo '13, Accra, Ghana
Tom Lewis '13, Dallas, TX
Shanada Adams '13, Rock Hill, SC
While our students work incredibly hard on this activity, they are coached by a blue-ribbon coaching staff. Hats off to D. Brad Rustin '03, Steven Buckingham '03, Ashleigh Ward '03, Mark Fessler '05, Dawn Williams '05, Libby Weith '06, Dr. Margaret Oakes, Jessica Rustin, and Titus Nichols--the very, very best coaching staff in all of the land.
Still High from the Sweet Taste of Victory--
Paladins are off to the South Beach Invitational this weekend in Miami, Florida--another elite event.
Ciao,
Glen