Mock Trial Team Gains New Ground at Regional Tournament

Mock Trial Club: (Top L-R) Veronica Reis ’14 and Morgan Camper ’11; (Bottom L-R) Carla Caso ’13, Cathryn Adams ’12, Matt Corridoni ’14 and Adam van Martinek ’12. Not Pictured: John Thomas ’11, Justin Wurm ’11 and Paige Zelnick ’13.

Over the course of two days, the team alternately argued for the prosecution and the defense in a civil products liability case calledHappyland Toy Company v. Andy Davis. Each round lasted three to four grueling hours. MMC faced teams from Fordham College at Rose Hill, Stonybrook University, the University of Connecticut and Princeton University. The tournament was attended by college teams from all over the Northeastern United States. 

Every year, AMTA provides an invented fact pattern, a set of affidavits, and the laws of an imaginary state to mock trial teams across the country. They spend months analyzing, dissecting, and building a case for both sides. The competitors argue a case in the imaginary state of Midlands, which happens to have adopted the Federal Rules of Evidence. 

Originally founded by MMC student Julietta Lopez ’12, the Mock Trial Team is currently led by a new president, Veronica Reis ’14, a communication arts and political science major who besides playing both attorneys and witnesses in alternating rounds, also arranged funding for the team’s trip, navigated the team through the bureaucracy of AMTA’s alternate world, and recruited New York State Appellate Division Justice Sallie Manzanet-Daniels ’85 to coach the team. The team met with Justice Manzanet-Daniels nearly every Friday for the past two semesters and practiced countless hours on its own. 

Marymount Manhattan tied Fordham’s team and soundly trounced the University of Connecticut’s team in actual tournament rounds. As for overall tournament standing, MMC also improved greatly from last year, placing ahead of both Stonybrook teams, both Queensborough Community College teams, and the University of New Haven and Southern Connecticut State University teams. Many of the teams that advanced to the next rounds were Ivy League universities with long traditions of debate, most of them fielding two teams. 

In moments between rounds, Justice Manzanet-Daniels, who according to AMTA rules could not speak to the team during rounds, whispered to co-observers about her team members’ styles: “John [Thomas ’11] is a bulldog. Look at him on cross-[examination]. He goes right for the jugular. Kate [Cathryn Adams ’12], on the other hand, uses a velvet glove. She is so calm and measured in her delivery that no one realizes she is taking them apart until it’s too late.” 

As Paige Zelnick ’13, a communication arts major, began her direct examination of one team’s first witness, it seemed as though the attorney to the defense was going to object to every other question, while their coach smirked in the corner. It was a rhythm-breaking tactic that worked temporarily but wore out its welcome quickly. The judges, irritated by petty objections that didn’t advance the case, eventually began allowing questions over nearly all objections. The tactic backfired in another way: Four hours into the round Zelnick’s ire was clearly up. She delivered such an impassioned closing summation at the end of the round that it overshadowed all that had come before. 

Morgan Camper ’11, an acting major and late recruit to the team who hopes to attend law school after graduation, cracked out her acting chops as a witness for the prosecution. She played the role of the mother, Andy Davis, who was suing Happyland Toy Company over the wrongful death of her two-year-old son. The defendant toy company allegedly caused Joey’s accidental death when he swallowed toy jewelry beads covered with a toxic chemical (produced by the defendant) while in the company of a careless babysitter. Opposing teams were stunned when Camper called up actual tears on the stand over the death of her character’s baby and began plotting counter-histrionics for their witnesses during a recess. The judges later commended Camper for remaining in character during the entire course of the trial. 

Throughout the competition, it became clear that witnesses were not only good actors, but also as carefully prepared for their roles in the case as the attorneys. Prior to taking the stand, communication arts major Carla Caso ’13 could be observed poring over potential questions from cross-examining attorneys, strategizing ways to limit her answers or turn them to her side’s advantage. She faced an onslaught of hostile questions without budging from her preparation. 

In another round, political science major Adam van Martinek ’12 played the CEO of Happyland Toy company, inevitably an unsympathetic character on what the judges acknowledged as the more difficult side of the case, tripped up a confident prosecutor with a humorous response in an unexpected place: “I do not sell kids.” 

Justin Wurm ’11, a political science major, rose unassumingly for cross-examination after the elaborate testimony of Princeton’s expert witness, a doctor who had devised four alternate theories regarding the possible causes of death of the plaintiff’s child. His testimony had been supplemented by charts, graphs and journal articles, and lasted nearly 25 minutes. Wurm punched a hole in each of the theories with four pointed questions requiring a yes or no response, and then sat down with a dismissive “No further questions, your Honor.” 

Though Princeton’s team won the round by the narrowest of margins, MMC scored so many points against them that Princeton was prevented from advancing beyond New Haven. 

Matt Corridoni ’14, a political science and theatre arts major who had deftly worked a “horse to water” metaphor into his opening summation for the defense, beamed as brightly as his solid red tie after the competition. He was assured that if the team prepared as well next year, MMC will move up in the standings and onto the next rounds of the competition. The prosecutor for the opposing team tried to improvise a reversal of Corridoni’s metaphor during her closing summation and ended up turning herself upside down instead. Everyone shook their heads in confusion, and the defense rested peacefully. 

Marymount Manhattan College is an urban, independent, liberal arts college. The mission of the College is to educate a socially and economically diverse student body by fostering intellectual achievement and personal growth and by providing opportunities for career development.

Published: February 25, 2011