As the Regional Tournament for GCSU’s Mock Trial Team approaches, two groups of attorneys and witnesses will travel to Atlanta and New Orleans to debate and perform in a courtroom setting.
GCSU’s team A is headed to Atlanta on Feb. 22 and 23, going against teams from Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
GCSU’s team B is taking a long drive to New Orleans on Feb. 15 and 16, competing versus teams from Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Georgia.
This year’s case, Shannon Shahid v. Taylor Hopson, presents a dramatic civil trial dealing with the contested will of Hopson and Shahid’s father, Avery Bancroft. The plaintiff, Shahid, argues that her half-sibling Hopson had a hand in her billionaire father’s death whilst aboard a luxury train. The court’s decision will determine which sibling has the legal right to Bancroft’s billion-dollar estate, with sibling rivalry and family drama heating tensions in the courtroom.
The coach of Mock Trial, and Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at GCSU, Adam Lamperello, explores his opinions on the one main quality that a student would need to be successful in a Mock Trial.
“Passion,” Lamperello said. “If you’re going to be successful in Mock Trial, just like if you’re going to be successful in the legal profession and in life, you have to want to be successful and be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.”
Lamperello has been the coach of GCSU’s Mock Trial team for the past five years and reflects on his experience with GCSU’s previous teams, as well as the strength of this year’s team.
“This year is the year,” Lamperello said. “[The current team] has for the first time in Georgia College history exemplified the work ethic needed to be successful, and the process needed to be successful. They have shown that they have the intangible skills and the work ethic to make the team great, all of them have worked hard and taken mock trials to new heights.”
Lamperello’s confidence in the team’s potential at the tournament appears nearly unshakeable, with Riley-Kate Miller, a sophomore political science major and the captain of A Team, sharing in this sentiment.
“We have been working all semester on solidifying our case theory and making sure it’s perfected,” Miller said. “With this last month, we are trying to clean up our case and performance, everyone has been working very hard so I’m very excited to go against other schools.”
Derek Kim, a junior political science and philosophy double major and captain of GCSU’s B Team, holds this same assurance in his team’s preparation, remarking on his team’s potential going into the tournament in New Orleans.
“I’m very confident,” Kim said. “It feels like there is a genuine real chance at advancing. I truly feel it, and I think the rest of our team would say the same.”
The path to regionals is a difficult journey, with many members of each team having differing opinions on how the case should be presented. Montana Arnold, a sophomore political science major and a witness for the A Team, expresses her perspective on how her team compromised on disagreements.
“I think we all embrace our disagreements,” Arnold said. “Everyone brings new perspectives and no one has a bad one, so we bring everyone good ideas together. I think a lot of times there’s a negative connotation when it comes to disagreements when in reality they should be viewed in a positive light because disagreements and critiques lead to innovation, which helps us evolve our case theory.”
Should the teams prevail in regionals, they will get a bid to the national tournament where they will compete against the best schools in the country. The teams, along with Lamperello, will have to use their ingenuity and innovation to mold their case theories into convincing arguments to topple the best of the best and put GCSU on the map.
