Successful Verdict on La Verne Law’s Inaugural Mock Trial Competition

The halls were full and lively during an early November weekend when La Verne Law hosted the inaugural Southern California Classic mock trial competition on November 8-9. More than 40 undergraduate students from three universities competed in front of a panel of experienced judges.

Teams representing Pepperdine University, California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, and the University of La Verne took part in the two-day event. La Verne Law’s Director of External Relations Krystal Lyons, the event organizer, said the law school was glad to facilitate the event, which offered the participants valuable experience.

“Schools are always looking for opponents to hone their skills and scrimmage to practice for the national scale. We served as the host, set up a website so they could register, and provided food,” Lyons said. “The thing that was unique about our event was that we had all experienced trial lawyers and two judges – Judge Victor Stull and Commissioner Michael Bishay – so the students got really good feedback on their performances and that made this really special.”

While the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo team took top honors, all of the competitors came away feeling like winners.

Brittany Boiko, La Verne’s team captain, was proud of her team’s performance, especially after several members had to step up and compete when one team did not show up.

“It was a great experience to be a fairly new mock trial team and to get to show our school – both the main campus and the law school – what we are capable of,” she said.

Boiko was also impressed by the judge and the panel the law school provided.

“The judges and jury we had were of such great quality and the feedback they gave was very helpful. The whole event had a lot of educational value, Boiko said. “The panel put on by those who attend College of Law was also really great and informational. I grew as a mock trial competitor and left really valuing my La Verne education even more.”

La Verne Law alumnus Thomas Allison, adviser for the La Verne mock trial team, was glad to have his team compete in the invitational.

“This was a great event, with great competition,” Allison said. “I am looking forward to an even bigger experience next year.”

Michael Chen, La Verne Law’s Director of Career Services & Professional Development and organizer of the Southern California Classic, sees this as the beginning of an annual tradition.

“There aren’t many invitationals in the area and the competitors were very grateful to practice,” Chen said. “We learned some things, too. It was good to work out the kinks and see how to best go forward in the future. We are ready for more teams and we will provide an even better learning experience next year.”