Mock Trial to Host Event This Weekend

By Jason Endres

Gettysburg College will host one of the regional Mock Trial Competition’s this weekend (February 11 and 12). The event brings together seventeen different colleges and universities including Cornell and the University of Virginia. The event titled “A Civil Battle: Gettysburg College Regional Mock Trial Tournament,” is sponsored by Gettysburg College’s Law and Justice Society. The competition is the first hosted by Gettysburg College since it joined the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) last year.

Even though Gettysburg College is a newcomer to Mock Trial, it has been quite successful. In the regional competition last year, the team collected three awards which are Outstanding New Team, Best Lawyer, and Best Witness. The team has set itself a high standard of success.

Kellen Dwyer, winner of Best Lawyer at last year’s regional Competition, is very optimistic about this year’s competition. “Our goal is to be one of the two teams who will qualify for the national tournament.” Dwyer, who is also the Director of Gettysburg’s mock trial program, believes he has a “very talented, hardworking, and well prepared team.”

Gettysburg’s team is unlike most of the other mock trial teams. Most teams have a coach who advises the team on strategy. Gettysburg is one of the few teams in the country that does not have a coach. Dwyer explained that the team coaches itself and try to come up with a group consensus on strategy. When there is a technical question that needs to be answered Kellen said that his “mother who is a graduate of the Cornell law school and [is] always eager to help.”

If Gettysburg finishes as one of the top two teams in the regional competition it will qualify for the National Mock Trial Tournament. The national competition will take place in March in St. Petersburg, Florida.