Brandeis University Mock Trial Association (BUMTA) put in its best showing ever at the regional competition in Manchaster qualifying one of their four teams to move on to the National tournament in Florida. In its fourth year of existence and its third year sending teams to nationals, BUMTA claimed third place finishing 6-2.
Another BUMTA team was on the verge of qualifying, finishing 4-4, needing to have one more win to claim the last qualifying spot.
If BUMTA places in the top six in Floriday, they can then move on to National Championship in Iowa.
In its final round, BUMTA beat Boston University, the winner of the tournament. BUMTA won one judge and tied the other.
BUMTA needs to raise 3,600 to pay for hotel and transportation fees. Currently it appears that they will not be able to do that.
BUMTA was founded by a group a current Seniors four years ago. Four years ago, although the teams worked on the case, no team actually went to competition.
Three years ago, BUMTA fielded three teams at AMTA, each of which had a 2-6 record at the end of the tournament, and won only one individual award. Two years ago, the most successful team finished 4-4 (11th place overall) and two individual awards were won. More importantly however, the team began to grow, with senior members beginning to instruct younger members, and support from alumni in the legal community such as Wendy Berliner, Esq. or current Attorney coach. In the present academic year, BUMTA was able to expand to field four teams.
This took place in large part because of the increasing ability of older members to pass on skills they had learned at two years of competition to younger members. Additionally, due to our increasing level of comfort and increased skills due to training with our coaches we sent three teams to regional tournaments (at Roger Williams and Yale).
This year at the regional competition, we emerged as one of the finest schools in competition. Indeed, coaches from powerhouse programs such as Boston University expressed considerable admiration for our teams, and AMTA officials were quite impressed with our performance.
In the end one of our teams finished 6-2 coming in third overall and receiving a bid to a National Tournament in St. Petersburg Florida. In addition, this team defeated the Champion team (also the defending Champions) in the final rounds of trials. Additionally, Brandeis received seven (7) individual awards, the most of any school in attendance. This success infused the entire club with a feeling of pride in accomplishments and caused the younger members to become considerably animated about learning and carrying on our new-found tradition as a dominant team which held the respect of our peer schools and high ranking AMTA officials.
BUMTA senate money request
