In Good Hands

This past weekend I was one of a number of lawyers who spent time as a judge in the Rutgers University Scarlet Knight Mock Trial Invitational, in which teams of students from various colleges and universities competed.  

On Saturday morning, I was part of a two-judge panel for a First Round match between a team from Amherst College and a team comprised of students from several different schools.  Unknown to me, there is apparently a rule in Mock Trial tournaments that addresses what happens if, for whatever reason, one team is short a player or players for a particular round.  It turns out they recruit (or solicit volunteers) from another team or teams.  Saturday morning, one of the six-member teams who I watched compete had in fact become a team shortly before they clicked on the Zoom link to begin the trial. Their performance, as a group, was so solid and so strong that I had no idea they had been thrown together like a potluck dinner until they shared that bit of information post-round when the judges and the competitors get to speak and to ask and answer one another's questions. 

I should have mentioned that upfront, right?  This entire tournament was conducted virtually.  Not only were the judges, including Yours truly, in our own personal space participating from a location other than Rutgers, all the competitors were doing the same.  

Sunday morning, I returned to judge - this time as a a member of a three-judge panel - a Third Round match between a team from Brown University and a team from Duquesne University.  Again, consistently solid, strong work from the three members of each team who were their side's three attorneys and from the three members of each team who testified as their side's three witnesses.  Each team's anchor, the attorney who delivered each side's summation, was stunningly good.  

The twenty-four young folks whose acquaintance I was able to make briefly this past weekend all impressed me. They impressed me with how well they performed under pressure, including my "potluck dinner" sextet whose performance, as a group, was so solid and so strong that I neither knew nor suspected their origin story until they shared it post-round, which is when the judges and the competitors get to speak and to ask and answer one another's questions. 

More than that, they impressed me with their obvious commitment to take on something that is not easy to do, including but not limited to the 50% (approximately - remember I sought refuge in law school to avoid math) of the competitors who told me (by show of hands) that neither law school nor the practice of law is presently in their future. 

Each of these collegians certainly seemed to have a bright future.  Signing off at the completion of our post-match wrap-up on Sunday afternoon following the Third Round match, I could not help but smile at that thought, what it means for them, and what it could mean for us all. 

-AK