After becoming a chartered club at Brandeis, last year, Mock Trial was able to send three teams, two of eight and one of seven members, to the regional competition in Manchester, CT during the weekend of January 31. This is the first time in many years that Brandeis is represented by a Mock Trial team at an American Mock trial Association (AMTA) competition. Although none of the teams advanced to the next round, Brandeis did receive several awards, including the praise of the organizers for doing very well as first- time participant, especially for a school without a coach.Last year, Brandeis' new Mock Trial Club was organized by Kelson Castain '05, Sara Scheinman '05 and Danny Silverman '05 and was subsequently charted as the Brandeis University Mock Trial Association (BUMTA). Although some of their members were involved in Mock Trial in high school, Kelson Castain, the president of BUMTA said, "experienced or not we welcome anyone who has any interest in Mock Trial to join us."

The tournament they attended two weeks ago was the first one they were ever involved in. The team captains for the tournament were Castain, Sarah Kaplan '05, Jason Bell-Masterson '05, Igor Pedan '05, Silverman, and Sharon Sproul '05. The event was held throughout the course of three days with two trials on the first and second days and a Championship Trial and Awards Ceremony on the final day. Overall, all three teams finished 2-6 and placed within the top 20 teams in attendance. Furthermore, Samuel Dewey '06 received an Outstanding Witness award for his portrayal of an accident reconstruction police officer and the team headed by Castain and Kaplan received honorable mention for the Spirit of AMTA award with a score of 10, 9 and 9.

"We are a first year team, going into this competition with no college experience, and finishing fairly well ... I see this as a very successful experience," Kelson said.

Unfortunately, this is the end of this year's season since the Brandeis teams did not advance to the National Tournament. "It is my hope that the organization continues to grow and expand and is able to continue to be able to go to the yearly regional competition," Bell-Masterson said.

"Our biggest problem over the past two years has been finding the money to go to competition," Castain said. "Last year, we were unable to raise enough money to go, but this year the Student Senate was gracious enough to give us part of the money we needed to make it to competition. They made it much easier for us to go, and we appreciate it.