SLS Team Wins ATLA Regional Tournament
February 27, 2005
A team from Stanford Law School was the winner at the ATLA Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Santa Monica this weekend.
The SLS Mock Trial Team sent two squads to the competition. The qualifying tournament, organized by the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA), featured sixteen teams from West Coast law schools arguing a civil case involving an alleged assault and battery. The winner goes on to compete at the national tournament in West Palm Beach, Florida in March.
The team designated "Stanford II" was the winner of the regional tournament. Stanford II members are team captain Suzanne Bratis (SLS '05), David Nelmark (SLS '05), Aaron Thacker (SLS '05), Rae Woods (SLS '07) and David Thompson (SLS '07). Stanford II went undefeated in the three qualifying rounds. They then proceeded to the semi-finals, where they defeated Seattle University in a nail-biter. In the final round, Stanford II beat San Diego to become the regional winner.
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Stanford II team members |
The team designated "Stanford I" also put in an impressive showing at the tournament but was eliminated after the three qualifying rounds, which included a match-up against semi-finalist Seattle University. Stanford I members are team captain Tony Lopez (SLS '06), Cynthia Inda (SLS '05), Ben Singerman (SLS '05) and Christopher Smith (SLS '07). Stanford I's coach at the tournament was Dan Shih (SLS '06).
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Stanford I team members |
Special congratulations go to first-year students Rae Woods and Christopher Smith, both of whom put in amazing performances. Competing schools were stunned to find out that SLS teams included first-years, who normally are not even considered for their tournament teams.
The Mock Trial Team is also fielding a squad to compete at the invitation-only ABA National Criminal Justice Trial Advocacy Competition in Chicago in March. The team includes captain Dan Shih, Cabral Bonner (SLS '06), Tony Lopez and Olga Kuskova (SLS '07), and will be coached by Rae Woods.
The SLS Mock Trial Team is a student-run organization. Unlike mock trial programs at other schools, which have professional coaches and training, our program is entirely led by students. Special thanks go out to our executive board, in particular Co-President Laura Day (SLS '06), and our team founders David Nelmark and Suzanne Bratis. The team also thanks everyone who assisted in training our members, including Prof. Miguel Mendez and Katie Tafolla-Young (SLS '07), and our generous sponsors.
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NB: This is the home page for the Stanford Law School Mock Trial Program. The undergraduate mock trial team may be contacted at http://www.stanford.edu/group/mocktrial/ .