For the third straight year, Clark University’s intercollegiate Mock Trial A team won a bid to the American Mock Trial Association’s (AMTA) national tournament, the Opening Round Champion Series (ORCS). ORCS tournaments, held annually, host the top teams from each of AMTA’s regional tournaments.

Clark A team members are Annie Zimmerman ’24 (captain), Josie Fitzgerald ’23 (captain), Victoria Kuzma ’24 (B team captain at regionals), Kelly Dodge ’25, Katie Healy ’24, John Parish ’24, Ezra Schrader ’24, and Chloe Tomblin ’23. Zimmerman is also a member of the American Mock Trial Association Student Advisory Board.

Clark B team members are Amritha Pai ’24 (captain), Antonia Lopez ’23, Kate McLaughlin ’24, Maxwell Redding ’22, Giorgo Capridis Soto ’22, and Ana Wurzmann ’25.

The teams are coached by Professor Steven Kennedy ’88, adjunct faculty in political science and the Law and Society Program.

To prepare for competition, both teams participated in invitational tournaments at the beginning of the Mock Trial season. During a virtual tournament hosted by Rutgers University, Clark teams won five individual awards: Colleen Falconer and Annie Zimmerman each won Best Attorney awards, and John Parish, Ezra Schrader, and Katie Healy won Best Witness awards. Healy and Parish were first-time competitors. Another first-time competitor, Ana Wurzmann, won a Best Witness award at the UMass virtual invitational.

The official season began with Clark’s A team competing in the virtual regional tournament hosted by Boston College in February. Clark A beat SUNY University at Albany and split rounds with Indiana University, University of Arkansas, and Pace University. Team captain Annie Zimmerman won a Best Attorney Award at the tournament.  The team’s performance in the 24-team regional tournament earned them a bid to the ORCS in Washington, D.C. The Clark A team has won a bid to the national event for three consecutive years.

In a highly competitive national tournament, Clark A faced the University of Maryland, Seton Hall University, and the University of Connecticut, and defeated Princeton University.

The B team achieved a 3-4-1 record at a virtual regional tournament hosted by the University of St. Thomas. The team won a ballot and tied another against the University of Kansas, while splitting ballots with Purdue University and the University of Arkansas. An undefeated team from the University of California won the regional tournament.

The American Mock Trial Association is the governing body intercollegiate mock trial competition. By engaging in trial simulations in competition with teams from other institutions, students develop critical thinking and public speaking skills, as well as a knowledge of legal practices and procedures. The AMTA sponsors regional and national-level competitions and provides interesting and complex case materials for academic use. Approximately 700 teams from more than 400 universities and colleges compete in these tournaments.

Listen: Mock Trial coach Steven Kennedy weighs in on the appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court