The courtroom is home to members of the University of Delaware Mock Trial Team (UDMT), who are the future lawyers and advocates of our generation. Mock Trial is a mock version of a trial in a courtroom. Teams are given a case at the beginning of the season, which starts in early fall, and they formulate their case based on the side (either plaintiff or defense) which they use to compete against other university teams. Each member has roles of their own either being a witness or lawyer on either side. This year’s case could be taken in two parts. Teams could choose whether to charge the defendant with intentionally poisoning the wine of her child’s fiancé or to charge the defendant’s winery with the mishandling of pesticides.

At the start of the season interested members tryout and are cut or placed into either the A or B team based on performance and competitiveness. This year’s A team was led by captains, junior Henna Castle, and senior Sarah Mazzeralla. Their B team was led by captains, junior Marissa Cuka, and junior Jeremy Fields. Marissa Cuka was one of the captains of the B team who reflected on her experience leading the team through a successful season.

“Being a captain during our first virtual season was such a rewarding experience,” Cuka said. I wanted to ensure that the members of B Team connected with one another, learned a lot, and had fun. We worked with A Team many times throughout the season by having joint practices and scrimmages, which everyone really enjoyed. I’m so proud of how much each member improved individually, as well as how much stronger we became as a team as the season progressed.”

Throughout the season UDMT competed in a number of tournaments all run by the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA). Their first tournament was hosted by George Washington University where A Team co-captain, Henna Castle won an award for “best attorney”. Following this was a tournament hosted by Carnegie Mellon University where both teams did super well. There, A team received honorable mention for the spirit of AMTA (SPAMTA) and A team member, junior Morgan Shaw earned an outstanding witness award. On the B team, freshman Malini Gulati and sophomore Abby Zoller-Gritz both earned outstanding attorney and witness awards, respectively. A team’s last tournament before Regionals was hosted by Drexel University where A team co-captain, Henna Castle, once again won an award for “best attorney” and the team itself won SPAMTA. For B team’s last tournament before Regionals, they participated in Quinnipiac’s tournament where the team placed 2nd overall. Freshman Justin Abreu and junior Jeremy Fields both won outstanding witness and attorney awards, respectively. 

It was eventually time for the tournament that the teams were working towards all season, Regionals. Placing at regionals would give them an opportunity to earn a bid to the Opening Round Championship Series (ORCS). A team member & junior Michael Sposato described how he felt throughout the season leading up to Regionals. 

“The season started out with a lot of questions as most of us were new to A Team but everyone came together and we were able to hit our stride at the perfect time at regionals and get out to ORCS,” Sposato recalled. 

As Sposato mentioned, that perfect stride was hit at the perfect time because A team was able to secure a bid to ORCS. Members on the A team were surprised and thankful for their ability to move on from Regionals to ORCS, like junior Rachel Spruill. 

“I assumed we weren’t moving on to ORCS because I felt like judges had been devaluing our talent for most of the season, so imagine my surprise when I learned the season wasn’t ending at regionals,” Spruill recalled. 

Winning was only the first step, as junior & UDMT President Morgan Shaw mentioned. 

“Preparing for ORCS was difficult but my main goal the whole time was just to keep confidence in myself and my abilities since there was only so much time between ORCS and Regionals,” Shaw added.

At ORCS the team held their ground and came through earning individual recognition. An individual award was earned by junior Brooke Schienle for being an outstanding witness at ORCS. One thing the team definitely agreed on was the meaningful nature of being on the UDMT team. Reflecting on the season post-ORCS several members of both A and B team only had good things to say about their experiences. Sophomore Steve Armstrong, and juniors Rachel Spruill, Michael Sposato, and Marissa Cuka reflected.

“Participating in Mock Trial has been one of the more rewarding experiences I’ve had,” Armstrong said. “It challenges you in many different ways, but the challenges are fun and being on a team with amazing competitors and people is truly something special”

“Being a member of Mock Trial has made me feel connected to my school when the pandemic would otherwise make me feel detached,” Spruill added. 

“This team is super close and gets along really well which is what I think helped us perform so well all year,” Sposato said. 

“We had a wonderful community of members who made everyday such a joy, as well as amazing coaches who helped us immensely,” Cuka added. 

Given this was the first year that Mock Trial was in its virtual format, the transition was characterized as strange, but also positive in a number of ways. Members of A team, Morgan Shaw and Steve Armstrong commented. 

“The online format was a strange one but it was nice to be able to communicate more clearly over it and be able to compete against teams that we never would have been able to compete against in person,” Shaw said. 

“With the zoom format we got to go against schools we normally wouldn’t go against,” Armstrong added. All the tournaments we went to ran smoothly, so we have really gotten the max experience even with the online format.”

However long, difficult, and tumultuous the journey has been for the team, it has been equally as rewarding, and no one summed that up better than UDMT President, Morgan Shaw. 

“Being on this team was the best decision I have made while in college,” Shaw concluded. “I have learned so much from this club and have made so many friends and memories.”

To keep updated on the team as they prepare to return next season follow @delawaremocktrial on Instagram for more information and updates!

This blog post is written by our Division of Student Life student intern Esha Shah.