Successful Mock Trial Season Concludes with Three Students Receiving National Awards

March 17, 2010

The St. John’s University Mock Trial team’s “A” squad competed last weekend in the Opening Round Championship Series of the National Mock Trial Tournament, picking up wins against Seton Hall University and Lafayette College.

The team qualified for the weekend’s competition, held at Pace University’s White Plains, NY campus, after advancing from the Atlantic Regionals with a sixth-place finish in February.

In White Plains, St. John’s defeated both Seton Hall University and Lafayette College, but lost to Georgetown University and Hamilton College. The loss to Georgetown, a narrow one-point loss, proved to be the deciding factor for St. John’s, who finished 4-4 overall.
 
Three St. John’s students were presented with individual awards: Gary Dunn, a freshman in the College of Professional Studies, was named an Outstanding Attorney; and Hema Aravindakshan, a senior in the College of Professional Studies, and Xuan Gong, a freshman in St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, were presented with Outstanding Student Witness awards.

The top six finalists from the Opening Round Championship Series at Pace (Columbia, NYU “A,” University of Pennsylvania, Dickinson College, NYU “B,” and Seton Hall) will advance to the National Championship Finals in Memphis, TN in April, where they will meet 42 teams from the seven other Opening Round Championship Series competitions, which also took place last weekend throughout the country.

For more information about the St. John's Mock Trial Team, please contact Professor Bernard Helldorfer at (718) 990-7417.