Two squads of Georgetown University students have advanced to the National Championship of the Intercollegiate Mock Trial Tournament to be held this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa.

In order to qualify for the national championship, students competed in the Eastern Regional Tournaments held at the University of Maryland at College Park from Feb. 23 to Feb. 25 and at Princeton University from Feb. 16 to Feb. 18. Of Georgetown’s four mock trial teams, one qualified at Maryland and the other at Princeton. The national championship will take place from March 30 to April 1.

Lando Juarez (COL ’01), the president of Georgetown Mock Trial and captain and an attorney of the qualifying team at aryland, said that the competition was very strong.

“There’s awesome competition at the Eastern Regional. It’s probably the most difficult region in the country,” he said.

Other teams competing in the East Regional included Yale University, Harvard University, George Washington University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Howard University and the University of Virginia. His team finished 6-2 in a tie for second place overall to earn their championship berth. They defeated teams from Hopkins, Clark University, UVA and the defending national champions, Maryland.

“To knock off Maryland, last year’s national champion, in the first round was really sweet,” Juarez said. “It was a huge win for us.”

Other members of Juarez’s team include attorneys Tim Haggerty (COL ’01) and Brandon Fisher, and witnesses Michael Carroll (MSB ’04), Lauren Salvatti (COL ’04), Charlie Kocher (COL ’01) and Scott Sakiyama (COL ’02). Juarez was an attorney as well. Haggerty is editor in chief of The Hoya.

Fischer and Juarez both received Outstanding Attorney awards, given to the top 10 attorneys at the competition. Salvatti was recognized as an Outstanding Witness and received perfect scores throughout the entire regional.

Grant Garber (SFS ’02), the vice president of Georgetown ock Trial, captained the qualifying team at Princeton. The team had a record of 6-1-1, placing third place overall, with wins over Boston College, St. Johns University, and two teams from George Washington University.

Garber’s team also includes witnesses Mike Marra (MSB ’02 ) and Candice Frazier (COL ’02) along with witness/attorneys Tyler Brown (COL ’04), Tony Cani (COL ’02), Jessica Karpuk (SFS ’04), Elfijie Salihu (SFS ’02), and Chiara Spector (COL ’02). Salihu and Spector both took home Outstanding Witness awards.

Students competing in mock trial try a fictional court case provided each year by the American Mock Trial Association. They alternate between civil and criminal cases on a year-to-year basis. This year’s case was a civil suit. Each team can have up to 10 members, four attorneys and six witnesses. However, competitors on the same team can be assigned multiple witness and attorney roles.

Teams going against one another argue opposite sides of the case, either plaintiff/prosecution or defense. Attorneys present opening and closing statements and call three witnesses per side. These witnesses are then subjected to direct and cross-examinations, with optional re-direct and re-cross. Two judges preside over each trial to score the teams and rule on objections.

Attorneys are awarded points based on their opening and closing statements and on their direct and cross examinations. Witnesses receive scores for their performances on direct and cross. An overall team score is also factored in. The judges add up the individual scores with the team scores to determine the winners. It is possible to split the ballots, whereby one judge declares the plaintiff side the winner, while the other judge finds for the defense.

The National Championship features a field of the top 64 teams out of the over 600 colleges and universities that compete in 20 regional tournaments nationwide. There are two brackets of 32 in which teams are power matched against each other after each round. The top two teams from each bracket then compete for the overall championship. An All-American round is also held for those witnesses and attorneys selected over the course of the competition.

The Eastern Regional sends four teams to the National Championship each year. Two more go to the National Intercollegiate Tournament, a consolation event held in St. Paul, Minnesota the week prior to the championships.

This year will be the first time in history that Georgetown has sent two teams to the National Championship. The last time they sent any team to Des Moines was six years ago. The university has sent teams to the NIT in the past, most recently in 1998 and 1999.

“This is the most accomplished team we’ve had in years,” Juarez said. “It’s a great case and we’re happy to be representing the university at a national championship.”

Unlike other schools such as Maryland, Georgetown Mock Trial is completely student run and has no coaches. It is the third largest intercollegiate competitive group on campus, according to Juarez, behind the International Relations Club and Parliamentary Debate. This year, the club had 32 active members divided into four different teams. Students were selected based on tryouts held by the board in October and November.