Stanford Mock Trial Wins Regional Texas Young Lawyer's Association National Trial Competition

April, 2007

Stanford’s Mock Trial Team took 5th place at the 32nd annual National Trial Competition this past week. Rae Woods (’07), Fred Smith (’07), and Jeremy Presser (’08) beat out nearly 300 other teams from around the country to achieve Stanford’s best ever finish at a national mock trial competition.

The National Trial Competition is put on annually by the American College of Trial Lawyers as a way of recognizing outstanding achievement in trial advocacy. This year, Rae, Fred, and Jeremy tried the fictional case of People v. Toby Baron, loosely based on the Kobe Bryant rape accusation. Toby Baron, a professional football player, was accused by a resort worker of sexual battery; Baron claimed that the alleged victim consented. The team alternated arguing both the prosecution and defense cases.

Thanks go to all the students that helped the team prepare for nationals these past few weeks, and especially to Tony Lopez (’06), Olga Kuskova (’07) and Ben Ratner (’08) for all their help and support this weekend. They worked tirelessly to make sure everything went as smoothly as possible and Stanford’s success wouldn’t have been possible without them.

This has been the program’s most successful year, in large part due to the support of SLS’s administration and faculty. Besides the exceptional support of Dean Kramer and Cathy Glaze, Professors George Fisher, Tim Hallahan, and Maude Pervere each offered their time and experience to help judge scrimmages and train new members. Also, California Supreme Court Justice Carol Corrigan and attorney Sam Miller each came to campus to help out with our training sessions - thanks to them for all their support!

Contact: Joe Larson
Contact Email: jplarson@stanford.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE