Mock Trial Team Advances

March 15, 2010

The mock trial team with its opening-round trophy. From left: Mary Kate Skehan, Hannah Shaffer, Julie Elias, Andrew Chesley, Austin Farneth, Peter Wright, Felix Fisher, Jenna Long and Reco Sanders. Not pictured: Ashley Williams.

For the first time in Dickinson College history, the Red Devils mock trial team has advanced to the final round of the American Mock Trial Association championship tournament. The final round, hosted by Rhodes College, will be held April 16-18 at the Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis, Tenn.

Dickinson secured a berth in the final round by defeating Cornell University, Hamilton College and Lafayette College in the opening round of the tournament over the weekend at Pace University Law School in White Plains, N.Y.  The four other schools advancing to the final round are Columbia University, New York University, Seton Hall University and the University of Pennsylvania.  Dickinson was the only liberal arts college in the opening-round tournament to advance.

Twenty-four teams  from 17 colleges and universities competed at White Plains, one of eight opening-round competitions nationwide.

Dickinson’s team – senior Felix Fisher of Mechanicsburg, Pa, junior Reco Sanders of Pasadena, Calif., sophomores Austin Farneth of New Kensington, Pa., Jenna Long of Longmont, Calif., Mary Kate Skehan of York, Pa., Peter Wright of Denver, Colo., and first-year students Andrew Chesley of Winnetka, Ill., Julie Elias of Lutherville, Md, Hannah Shaffer of Friedens, Pa., and Ashley Williams of Silver Spring, Md – argued a fictional case involving a murder conspiracy among three partners in a movie production studio.

Sanders received an Outstanding Attorney award and Chesley received an Outstanding Witness award at the tournament’s closing ceremony. 

“Over 600 schools compete at collegiate mock trial,” said Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas Judge Edward Guido, an adjunct professor of law and policy at Dickinson and one of the team's coaches. “Only 48 teams qualify for the final round of the national championship. Dickinson is one of them.”