UCI's mock trial team wins in court, qualifies for nationals

UC Irvine’s senior America Mock Trial Association team will advance to the national championships in St. Paul, Minn., in April after winning second place in the regional championships Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 23-24. Only the third year that teams from UCI competed in a field of 30 teams, both the veteran team and the junior team placed in the top 10. The veteran team’s 7-1 record tied for first place with UCLA, but after tie-breaking procedures were implemented UCI emerged in second place. The junior team placed eighth and won the Spirit of AMTA award. Club President Marissa Oxman also won an Outstanding Lawyer award. The team prepares from September through February with a set of facts supplied by AMTA. Members meet five to 10 hours a week and practice on their own time as well. “We have to commit the Federal Evidentiary Code to memory,” Oxman said. While team members would seem like naturals to populate UCI’s first law school class in fall 2009, Oxman says participants represent a wide range majors. She is a junior majoring in dance.