Okay, so I'm finally ready to talk about our trip down to Santa Monica. The trip itself went fine, and was a lot of fun. I got to hang out in Santa Monica, a city where I have actually spent very little time in the past. And while I didn't actually visit home, I did meet up with my mom and dad at my grandma's house, and I had lunch with Janis. Finally, compared to Nor Cal, even drizzly weather in L.A. is warm and pleasant.

But of course, what me, Dave, Crystal, Joe and Sara had come down to L.A. for was the ATLA Mock Trial Regional competition. And that was a mixed bag. On one hand, my teammates put on the best performances of the whole season; their cases have never been so polished as they were at the three tournament rounds we participated in. On the other hand, we failed to advance to the semifinals round on Saturday afternoon. We got beat by a very good Cal Western team in the second round (have you heard of Cal Western Law School? Neither have I, but they went on to win the whole tournament), and in a third round bummer, lost all three ballots to a Southwestern team that was mediocre at best (yet somehow reached the semis!)

( LJ Cut: Learn why I now hate all Plaintiffs' Lawyers )

I leave you with some final pictures, and a Flickr set:


( A few more pictures )

The ATLA Regional Tournament is upon us. I'm leaving this Wednesday night with my Mock Trial teammates for LA, where the tournament will take place at the Santa Monica courthouse from Thursday through Sunday. Each team is guaranteed three rounds, with the top four teams going on to the semifinals and then the final round.

Things are really hectic for me right now, but I am enjoying life. (Too hectic for me to feel like posting a full update but here's a partial – Pescadero; Viennese Ball; brief and oral argument for Federal Pretrial Litigation on subject matter jurisdiction; 10 page paper for Complex Litigation; STLR Board elections. Oh, and lots and lots of Mock Trial practices and scrimmages.)

Wish us luck.

Forecast: brilliant orange sunsets and sparkling blue oceans. Just kidding. It's probably going to rain.

It's the most beautiful day today, right now -- balmy, 70 degrees, and the sun is shining. This is the most beautiful day up in the Bay Area in recent memory. It makes me happy.


Joe, playing defense expert Leigh Flounders

Oh yea, and the Mock Trial Invitational went really well. We made it to the final round (the "Stanford Showdown") on Sunday morning, and won convincingly. Our team went through three rounds -- we won the first round against a very good Hastings team, and both the second and the third were against Scott Reents' very capable team (Stanford's ATLA Team 3). Though we narrowly lost to Team Reents on Saturday afternoon (two tie ballots and one in their favor), we won all three votes in the final round.

Because of this, our team is going to the Regional ATLA competition in Santa Monica in March. We're going to LA! It also means we're going to work twice as hard as we have been previously, for the next 3 weeks.. bleh..

Pictures are up:
Round 1 and 2 pictures
Stanford Showdown pictures

And my teammates Dave Thompson and Crystal Tindell are quoted in the Stanford Daily's coverage of the Invitational.

Tommorow morning is the Stanford Mock Trial Invitational. We've been preparing this for what seems like an eternity. (At last count, we've logged 17.5 hours this week with scrimmages and practices.) And while what I saw today in our practice run was not "perfect" by any means, it has been getting increasingly polished.

Crystal, a member of our team who plays Plainttiff Expert Logan Stein, has a simple answer every time someone mentions our competition: "bring it." That was her attitude going into the scrimmage with the first team, which went very well. And that pretty much sums up our team's attitude towards the Invitational.

Here's a short article about the Invitational. Wish us luck tomorrow.

I looked at my calendar just right now and realized, holy crap, I had almost no free time this week. So much has been eaten up by Mock Trial..

I'm up so late because I had to finish my Complaint for Federal Pretrial Litigation tomorrow. (More on this semester's classes in an upcoming post.) Not great because the class is at 8:30 am.

Color legend -- purple are my classes, which are pretty chill; red is Mock Trial practices; blue are other assorted meetings. Aiy.

It's crunch time for Mock Trial. The Invitational is at Stanford, all day Saturday -- and if we don't take all here, our season is over. Even though I'm just the alternate, I am looking forward to it.

Things have definitely been getting more intense -- we have been meeting for 3-4 hours every day (by my estimate, 30 hours in the past 2 weeks.) We had a scrimmage (full-length practice round) on Saturday, another tomorrow, and yet another on Thursday. But all of us are willing to put in the hours now, because it will all pay off in the end.

Tomorrow's scrimmage should be especially interesting. We are going up against ATLA Team 1, which is stacked with all our "ringers" -- the best Mock Trialers at Stanford, the ones with proven talent and experience. However, unlike us, they haven't worked as much on their case –they are already guaranteed a spot at the ATLA Regional Tournament in Santa Monica 3 weeks from now, and don't need to win on Saturday. Joe is out tomorrow, so I will have to fill in for his direct and cross examinations. (I'll probably get creamed on objections.)

I'm glad I signed up for this thing. Last semester, it was just a decision I made on a whim -- but I feel like I'm learning all these trial and lawyering skills that should be a part of a basic legal education.

Dave, playing witness/plaintiff Gerry Cook on the stand


One of the reasons I came back up to school a week early was to prep for Mock Trial -- I'm the alternate for ATLA Team 2. (There are 5 teams at Stanford for the ATLA-sponsored mock trial competition.) We started Monday night and plan to meet 2-3 hours a night, every day for the next two weeks.

It's pretty intense, but the sessions so far have been helpful and productive. I have consistently been impressed by the dedication and abilities of Sara, Crystal, Joe, and the team leader, my friend Dave. Brainstorming for "theories of the case," themes to present to the jury, and direct and cross lines of questioning for the witnesses has been great, and gives me insight into how real trial lawyers might prepare for a court case. This will be fun..