Student group prepares for the Mock Trial championships
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 28, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 NIMA TAHAI The UCLA Mock trial team celebrates their
first place victory in the Western Regional Tournament in Rancho
Cucamonga, Feb. 1-3.
By Jany Kim
Daily Bruin Contributor
Eight aspiring lawyers sit around a kitchen table planning their
defense strategy in the mock murder of Wendell Tucker as they
prepare for their court debut next month.
But it’s not just Tucker’s life they’re
fighting for.
The UCLA Mock Trial team is preparing for the national
championships in April after receiving top awards at the American
Mock Trial Association’s Western Regional Tournament held
Feb. 1-3.
This regional victory marks the first time a UCLA team scored
8-0, an undefeated record, said Nima Tahai, a second-year political
science student and co-captain of the team.
“We truly were the best in the western region,”
Tahai said, glowing as he reflected on the team’s countless
hours of work in preparation for the event.
In preparation for Regionals, Erick Wang, a fourth-year
political science student and the other co-captain of the team,
consulted with a forensics expert who performs autopsies at a
hospital for his role as a forensics expert and prosecutor.
At the competition, one witness spoke with a Brooklyn accent and
the defendant cried on the witness stand, Tahai recalled.
“As soon as court’s in session the judge treats you
like you’re real attorneys,” Wang said.
The experience is “somewhat like what you see on TV but
more realistic,” Tahai added.
Four UCLA Mock Trial teams finished first, second, fifth and
eighth place overall in the regional competition against schools
including Stanford, Claremont McKenna, USC and UC Berkeley.
The two UCLA teams that snatched first and second place at
regionals will advance to the national championships in Des Moines,
Iowa along with the regional third place team from Stanford next
month.
Last year, UCLA placed fifth at the national championships.
This year, the UCLA Mock Trial team will be competing against
schools including Yale, Princeton, Harvard and Columbia for the
coveted national title currently held by Miami University of
Ohio.
“We’re pretty confident that we’ll win the
national title,” Wang said.
At the national competition, the two teams will perform a mock
murder case assigned to them at the beginning of the school year.
In each round, three prosecuting or defense attorneys present their
side of the case against the opposing side as the remaining five
team members assume witness roles.
The national competition presents 10 individual All-American
awards to students, nationally recognizing them as outstanding
attorneys and outstanding witnesses.
Last year, a UCLA student was awarded the school’s first
ever All-American attorney award.
“We have aspirations of getting an All-American award this
year,” Tahai said.
Tahai emphasized presentation and public speaking skills, in
addition to the content of the arguments, as important elements for
success ““ skills he said are demonstrated by every member of
his team.
The ability to imitate actual witnesses and seem credible is
important, Tahai said.
“It’s just thinking on your feet, doing things
you’ve never done before “¦ only so much can be
scripted,” Tahai said.
The Mock Trial team is sponsored by the UCLA Pre-Law Society
under advisor Gonzalo Freixes, professor of business law at the
Anderson School.
