Their school doesn’t teach law but nevertheless, a team of Cal Poly students will compete in the national mock trial finals this weekend, the school announced.
The Cal Poly Mock Trial Team earned a bid to the American Mock Trial Association National Championship Tournament set for April 21-23 in Los Angeles. It’s the first time a Cal Poly team has made the national finals.
The “A Team” finished in the Top-6 in the opening round championship series in Fresno March 25-26. Team pictured here members from left to right are: Garrett Rutherford, Jesse Quiroz, Rod Rahimi, Deeksha Kohli, Zackery Michaelson and Chloe Loomer. (Photo by Mock Trial Coach Justin Cooley). The students are from different majors — political science, business, math, and civil engineering.
“I could not be prouder of our team and their awesome work,” said Elizabeth Lowham, chair of the political science department. The competition has AMTA publish a fictitious legal case and have teams from across the nation argue either side of the case before real judges.
At Cal Poly, the school teams competed in five invitational tournaments and two scrimmages, including their first invitational outside of the state of California.
Three teams competed in two regional tournaments; one at the Pomona/Claremont McKenna Colleges and one at Arizona State. At the Pomona/Claremont McKenna Regional Competition, Michaelson won a best regional attorney award.
