Mock Trial Team wraps up season with regional tournament, student awards

May 1, 2012 | News, UToday
By Feliza Casano



The University of Toledo Mock Trial Team competed in the Mid-East Regional Mock Trial Tournament this spring, and two students brought home awards.

Posing for a photo were, standing from left, Kathleen Reed, John Schlageter III, Robert May, Jesse Bachli, Timothy Higgins, Jessica Seevers, Sarah Scheid, Sarah Phipps, Sarah Guthrie, Joseph Corey, Michael Osowik and Robyn Miller, and seated from left, Dr. Martin Ritchie, Suzanne Gagle of Marathon Petroleum Co., President Lloyd Jacobs, and benefactors Richard and Jane McQuade.

The 11 students participating in the UT Mock Trial Team are undergraduates majoring in legal specialties. UT competed against 25 teams in the regional competition in Cincinnati in February; none of the members had mock trial experience before beginning the competitions.

“They really did a nice job this season, not having done it before,” said John Schlageter III, UT associate lecturer for undergraduate legal specialties and coach of the team.

Bradene Moore, UT associate professor of undergraduate legal specialties, also coaches the team, which won several of the competition rounds during the season.

Two students received individual awards: Senior Sarah Guthrie won the All-Region Witness Award, and junior Sarah Phipps earned the All-Region Attorney Award. Guthrie also received an Outstanding Witness Award at an invitational event in November.

“Participation on the team is important for anyone with an interest in public speaking,” Schlageter said. “It really helps students build confidence and understand both the judicial system and the rights affirmed to citizens.”

The Mock Trial Team is sponsored by the UT Paralegal Studies Program, and the team was able to compete on the local and regional levels thanks to the Richard and Jane McQuade Endowment and a gift from Marathon Petroleum Co.

“The Paralegal Studies Program is most grateful to Marathon and the McQuades for their ongoing support,” said Kathleen Reed, director of UT paralegal studies. “Marathon has long been a supporter of the Paralegal Studies Program — taking our interns and hiring our graduates — and the Richard and Jane McQuade Endowment has made it possible for all paralegal studies students, including the Mock Trial Team, to have a real-world courtroom experience in the high-technology McQuade Courtroom.”

Click to access the login or register cheese