The Case Western Reserve University Ault Mock Trial teams swept the top three spots at the Case Classic Mock Trial Competition, held Nov. 13–14 at the School of Law. Eighteen teams competed in the annual national competition, including Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, University of Alabama School of Law, William & Mary Law School, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, University of Akron School of Law, and University of Cincinnati College of Law.
In all, five CWRU law teams competed, consisting of ten 2L and ten 3L students.
- 1st Place—Madeline Clabough, Owen Carpenter, Veronika Bondarenko, Jordan Weeks
- 2nd Place—Athavan Balendran, Pammy Boulas, Elena Gutbrod, David Walters
- 3rd Place—Madeline Kelley, Evan Adeen, Elizabeth Martinez, Sean Williamson
This year's problem was a civil case involving a wrongful death lawsuit alleging negligence against a fraternity. A 20-year-old female sustained fatal injuries after falling from a lifeguard chair at a fraternity party.
The CWRU School of Law mock trial teams have historically performed very well at this competition, with three first place finishes since the Case Classic switched to a four-round, power-paired tournament format in 2016. The Case Classic is the first national mock trial competition of the year. CWRU law teams will compete in several other national mock trial competitions in the coming months.
"This year, Mock Trial team members have demonstrated incredible resilience and adaptability by competing in person for the first time after the pandemic moved all competitions to a virtual format in 2020. The team's successes so far show the team members' natural talent and hard-working attitude," said Sean Sweeney (LAW '17), one of the team coaches.
Other team coaches include Lauren Tuttle (LAW '17), Kate Masetta-Alvarez (LAW '18) and Michael Gabelman (LAW '13).