Mock Trial - Fall 2011 Intra-School Competition

Results of Final Trial, Nov. 9, 2011:

  • First Place: Angel Camino and Marissa Oxman, representing the Defense. Francisco Balderrama was included in the award ceremony as a vital team member.
  • Second Place: Sabyl Landrum, Myles Couch, and Daniel Moss, representing the Prosecution
  • Best Advocate award: Marissa Oxman. Outstanding Advocate Honorable Mention awardees: Sabyl Landrum and Brad Walters

Judges of Final Trial:

  • Andrew Guilford (presiding judge)
  • Doug Davidson
  • Carol Gefis
  • Fred Judd
  • Andrew Nechaev
  • Derrick Nguyen

On Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011, UC Irvine School of Law held its inaugural Trial Competition. Local judges and lawyers presided over the trials and provided feedback to the competitors. After a day of hard-fought murder trials, two teams qualified for the Nov. 9 Final Trial, emerging with undefeated records.

Inaugural Mock Trial Participants

  • Selwyn Chu, Hye Seong Lee, Brad Walters, Nico Andwandter, Danny Modaffari, Myles Couch, Sabyl Landrum, Daniel Moss, Jacob Barak, Michael Wasserman, Angel Camino, Marissa Oxman, Betsy Bentler, Xiangyu Zhang
  • Student Volunteers (Witnesses and Bailiffs): Pegah Ghaneian, Nora Stefanos, Lauren Davis, Tori Anderson, Kristin Garcia, Angela Elizabeth Perry, Andrew Benard, Francisco Balderrama, Sirena Wu, Brooke Weitzman, and Stefanie Wilson.

The competition coach is Justin Bernstein, an attorney in Newport Beach. A graduate of UC Berkeley and NYU School of Law, Bernstein formerly worked as an associate at O'Melveny & Myers and now teaches political science at UC Irvine. He is a member of the American Mock Trial Association Board of Directors, was recognized as the 2011 national mock trial coach of the year, and currently coaches the UCI undergraduate team, ranked sixth among 500 teams nationwide.