Harvard National Mock Trial Champs

Last weekend, one of Harvard's two Mock Trial teams won the American Mock Trial Association Northeast Regional Tournament in Hartford, Conn.

This win earned the team a bid to the national championship tournament, which will take place from April 9-11 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Members of the winning team include Tanya L. Barnes '00, Hugh P. Liebert '00, Laura E. Rosenbaum '00, who is also a Crimson editor, Tom G. Saunders '00, Anand R. Shah '99-'00, Chris G. Swart '00, Marvin B. Tagaban '00 and Lauren A. Wetzler '99.

According to Wetzler, an attorney for the winning team, the victory was a pleasant surprise.

"We have been preparing for this competition since October. There were no guarantees that we would win and this weekend was certainly exciting and unexpected," she said.

Harvard competed against teams representing Yale, Brown, Boston University, Boston College, Wesleyan and other New England schools.

There are two mock trial teams which are part of the Harvard-Radcliffe Mock Trial Team and Pre-Law Society. Each team is comprised of seven participants.

Wetzler said that this weekend's win is especially exciting because of the novelty of Harvard's mock trial team.

"It's very exciting for us because this is only the third year of our team," Wetzler said.