On the weekend of February 17-19, 2017, Georgia Tech Mock Trial (GTMT) sent two teams (A & B) to the AMTA Jackson, Mississippi Regional Tournament, which was held at the Mississippi College School of Law.  At the end of the weekend, both GTMT A and B finished the tournament in the top seven, which was good to earn GTMT two bids to the next round of competition in March at the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) Opening Round Championship Series Tournament (ORCS) hosted by Georgia Tech in Decatur, Georgia.  This is the second time in the past three years that GTMT has advanced the maximum of two teams to the ORCS round of AMTA competition.  

Over the weekend, GTMT A faced off against teams from the University of Mobile, Dillard University, Millsaps College (National Championship Participant 2016), and the University of Mississippi.  GTMT A finished the weekend with an undefeated record of 8-0, along with an impressive point differential of +226 points.  This is the third straight year that GTMT A has won their regional tournament, and it’s the second consecutive year that GTMT A has gone undefeated at AMTA Regional Tournaments.  In addition to the team accolades, Ali Foreman and Sarah Stebbins won Outstanding Witness and Attorney Awards respectively.  Chandler Matz won two individual awards on each side of the case - one Outstanding Witness and one Outstanding Attorney award.  

GTMT B hit teams from the University of Alabama, Florida State University, the University of Georgia, and Tulane University.  At the end of the weekend, GTMT B finished with a record of 5-2-1, with wins/ties over all of those teams.  GTMT B handed the only losses of the weekend to the team from Alabama, who also advanced to the ORCS tournament.  GTMT B also took a Tie against UGA A, who was a top 5 team nationally last year.  This was a truly impressive performance from GTMT B, who will also be a force to be reckoned with at ORCS, along with many years to come.  In addition to these team successes, Pranav Gandham earned an individual Outstanding Witness Award.  

Over the weekend of February 4-5, 2017, GTMT C went to the AMTA Columbia, South Carolina Regional tournament, which was held at the University of South Carolina School of Law.  GTMT C started the weekend strong with wins over the University of South Carolina and the University of Florida, with a record of 3-1, which was good for 3rd place out of 21 teams at the halfway point of the tournament.  GTMT C unfortunately fell short in hard fought rounds against Washington & Lee and Duke University in Rounds 3 and 4, to finish the tournament in 12th place, which was shy of being in the top 7 that we needed to advance to ORCS.  However, for a team composed exclusively of first and second-year students, the future is bright for GTMT with these students on the horizon. In addition to the team performance, Eli Hendler earned an Outstanding Attorney Award at the end of the tournament.

Next month, over the weekend of March 17-19, 2017, Georgia Tech Mock Trial will be hosting the AMTA Opening Round Championship Series Tournament at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Georgia.  GTMT will host 22 teams in addition to the 2 competing GTMT teams, who will compete for the right to advance to the National Championship Tournament in April 2017.  This year, the National Championship Tournament is held in Los Angeles, California, and it is being hosted by UCLA.  GTMT will seek to return to the National Championship Tournament again for the second straight year to defend their third place finish in 2016.  If you want to support the tournament, you can sign up to judge below and if you wish to support Georgia Tech Mock Trial in the hosting of this tournament or their potential travels to California, please contact Georgia Tech’s Office of Development to make your donations to GTMT!