Future lawyers argue in mock trials

Tuesday, February 2, 1999

Future lawyers argue in mock trials

CONTEST: Program set

in court permits students

to get the real experience

By Brian Fishman

Daily Bruin Contributor

UCLA’s athletic teams are not the only campus groups aiming for
a national title.

In a regional contest last weekend, two of UCLA’s three
undergraduate mock trial teams qualified for a national competition
in St. Petersburg, Minn.

However, there is some controversy over one of the UCLA teams’
performance. The team came in fourth, with a record of 5-1-2 this
weekend, though two other teams finished ahead with 6-2 records,
relegating the UCLA squad to the silver-flight tournament in St.
Petersburg, instead of the gold-flight national tournament in
Iowa.

Being passed over did not sit well with the Bruins.

"We deserve the opportunity to compete in the gold-flight
tournament and we will appeal," said Michael Grossman, the team’s
leader and student director of the mock trial association.

Some Bruins suggested final decisions were biased.

"By most objective standards we should have been second or
third," said Gonzalo Freixes, UCLA professor and coach for the UCLA
teams.

According to Freixes, the reason given for why the UCLA team was
kept out of the gold-flight tournament was that their strength of
schedule was lower than the other teams.

Despite the controversy, Grossman was excited about his teams’
opportunity to duplicate their 1997 appearance in the national
competition.

"We’re the most talented team I’ve seen at the college level,"
Grossman said.

The trials are arranged to emulate a real trial. Each team is
given a set of facts and an eight-person possible witness list. The
team may only call three witnesses to testify. Teams also get the
opportunity to cross-examine their opposition’s witnesses.

"It’s in a courthouse – it’s exactly like a real trial,"
Grossman said, "except that you don’t know what side you’re on
until 15 minutes before the trial."

But preparedness can get you through any surprise, or so the
two-hours-a-day, five-days-a-week mock trial practice schedule
suggests.

"The teams did a great job. We earned this," said Minh Nguyen,
captain of one of the advancing teams.

Nguyen has shown his devotion to the mock trial association and
a desire to make up for a balk at last year’s national
tournament.

"I could have graduated last year," said the fifth-year senior,
"but I wanted a chance to redeem ourselves for last year."

This year, Grossman’s team debated a negligence suit involving a
faulty airplane fuel gauge that resulted in a crash.

But a national title and a faulty fuel gauge are not the only
issues resolved at mock trials.

"It really gives team members the opportunity to see if they
want to go to law school," Grossman explained.

The program has been lauded as an opportunity for students to
prepare for a possible future in law.

"Students come out of these programs as good or better than
young lawyers," Freixes said.

The Bruin teams have now run into the additional problem of
funding two teams at a national competition halfway across the
country.

Hindered by money problems all year, Grossman sometimes gets
frustrated.

"We have gone through the proper channels. USAC, everyone and no
one has helped," Grossman said.

Sixteen teams from across the western United States competed in
the event sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association.

The three UCLA teams also came home with several individual
awards. David Quo and Nguyen were commended as "Most Outstanding
Attorneys" while Adam Wisner and Barry Brown were recognized as
"Most Outstanding Witnesses."

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