PROGRAM HISTORY

BRINGING HOME HARDWARE SINCE 2003

In its nearly two-decade long history, Tufts Mock Trial has attended over 100 tournaments, competed at the National Championship 11 times, and finished in the top 10 at Nationals 6 times.

Below are our stories.

2023 - 2024

Marsha Germain (’25) and Cole Reese (’25) were elected as Co-Presidents. Germain and Reese inherited a young program with raw talent, but one that required some fresh ideas at the top after the A team’s Memphis finish the year before. Due to issues with retention, TMT was forced to take 12 new members, putting three new members on each team. In the fall, TMT sent unstacked teams to Penn State’s Happy Valley, Harvard’s Boston Tea Party, Haverford’s Black Squirrel Invitational, and our very own Mumbo Jumbo. One team, captained by Reese and Marie Kazibwe (’24), took home second place from Black Squirrel. At every other tournament TMT struggled with results.

After stacking, a freshly minted A team, captained by Margaret Veglahn (’24) and Reese, attended UVA’s GAMTI and UChicago’s Great Chicago Fire. At both tournaments, they took home 8th place trophies, picking up ballots against the best teams in the country. Veglahn won a GAMTI attorney award, and Wesley Jansen (’25) won a GCF award. The B team, captained by Sam Nashel (’26) and Ayleen Cameron (’24) attended Columbia University Big Apple Invitational Tournament (CUBAIT) and Georgetown’s Hilltop Invitational Tournament (HIT). A disappointing finish at CUBAIT led to increased success at Hilltop, where the B team finished with an even record.

Come AMTA season, both A and B made it out of Princeton Regionals, with a slew of individual awards. One C team managed a bid as well, keeping the TMT tradition of 3 bids a year alive. Both teams attended New Rochelle ORCS. Tufts A finished with a record of 6-4-2, after dropping ballots on day one to their C and D bracket rounds and sweeping their A and B bracket rounds on Sunday. Eventually, Tufts A missed a bid on a CS tiebreak by just half a point. Tufts B finished with record of 6-6. Paige Duff (’24) won an All-National for her emotional witness performance, and Reese won an All-National for his performance as the closing attorney on the prosecution.

No Tufts team attended Nationals. In the summer, senior and A team captain Margaret Veglahn competed at Trial By Combat in Los Angeles, finishing in eighth place. She brought alum Bennett Demsky (’22) and current competitor Ian Carson (’25) as her coach and second chair. Carson, Aidan Connors (’26), Sam Nashel (’26), and Lillian McKeever (’26) competed at the inaugural Devil’s Advocates summer tournament hosted by Mercer Law school, taking home several individual awards and the second place trophy.

 

2022 - 2023

Margaret Veglahn (’24) and Max Mitchell (’23) were elected to the presidency. TMT had a successful fall, coming in 1st and 3rd at the first invitational of the season, Happy Valley at Penn State. At our own Mumbo Jumbo, the other two unstacked fall teams placed 3rd and 4th. BTP, GAMTI, and Soda City rounded out the fall season and had TMT done by Thanksgiving. After stacking, Tufts A, captained by Veglahn and Cole Reese (’25), competed at the Columbia University Big Apple Invitational Tournament (CUBAIT) and the Great Chicago Fire Invitational for some practice before the AMTA season officially got underway. Tufts B, captained by Mitchell and Jane Romp (’23), competed at Yale Invitational and Hilltop in DC. 

Come Regionals, Tufts A flew out to Norman, Oklahoma, and had a successful weekend. Tufts C1 and C2 both snared bids as well. Unfortunately, Tufts B failed to bid out of regionals, finishing with five wins and an honorable mention. This prompted the first restack in recent memory, with members from the original B team combining with members from both C teams to form a new B team just a few weeks before ORCS. Marsha Germain (’25) joined Mitchell as the captain of the new hybrid squad.

ORCS was successful for both the A team, who competed in Texas, and the B team, who made it out of New Rochelle on short prep with a new team. Both teams went on to compete in Memphis, where the roles reversed: Tufts A finished without a podium spot, and Tufts B managed 6th place in their division. Fatima Lawan (’23) won an All-American witness award. Co-President Margaret Veglahn competed at Trial by Combat in June, and several members participated in the newly minted AMTA Rookie Rumble summer tournament.

2021 - 2022

Bennett Demsky (‘22) returned to the presidency, alongside Fatima Lawan (’23). TMT returned to in person mock trial for the first time in more than a year at Penn State’s Happy Valley invitational. At our very own Mumbo Jumbo Invitational, one of our fall teams placed 5th. To compete in person, Tufts fall teams flew down south to compete at Duke’s Tobacco Road Invitational and South Carolina’s Soda City Trials, as well as Virginia’s GAMTI, where we placed 4th. Tufts A and B started their season at the inaugural Boston Tea Party, which we co-hosted with Harvard. Tufts A went undefeated and won the tournament, and Tufts B finished in 4th. In January, AMTA announced that Regionals would be held online, but Tufts A traveled to Chicago to compete at Northwestern’s Windy City Invitational in-person anyway, where we placed 3rd. Tufts B competed virtually at South Carolina’s Southern Showdown invitational, and Tufts C and D competed virtually at the Red Line Round Robin, which was co-hosted by Tufts and MIT. At Regionals, Tufts A, B, and C all earned bids to ORCS. Tufts C finished with 7 ballots and was the top-performing C team in the country at Regionals, and Tufts D finished a ballot shy of qualification after multiple unlucky results. At ORCS, Tufts was sent across the country to DeKalb, Illinois, where Tufts A and Tufts B achieved eternal glory by capturing the first two bids to the NCT, thereby vanquishing the Midwest. Tufts A was undefeated. At the NCT, Tufts A placed 2nd in their division for a second consecutive year, and Tufts B placed 9th in their division, Tufts B’s highest finish ever. Seniors Brett Sachs and Alexander Thompson and Junior Fatima Lawan all won All-American witness awards. Sachs and Thompson won awards on the same side. Fatima Lawan was the highest ranked witness in the division. Senior Bennett Demsky competed at Trial by Combat in June, where he finished 8th.

2020 - 2021

Bennett Demsky (’22) and Celina Vidal (’21) were elected to the presidency. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire 2020-2021 season was conducted on Zoom. TMT had a rough start to the fall invitational season, finishing with losing records at Ohio State’s Scarlet and Gray Invitational, our own Mumbo Jumbo Invitational, and Duke’s Tobacco Road Invitational. Our fall teams turned things around at the Yale Invitational, where we took 4th in the A division and 2nd in the B division. TMT also attended GAMTI, hosted by Virginia, for the first time since 2014, where one of our fall teams placed 6th. Tufts A and B started their seasons at UC Irvine’s Beach Party, which uses an unconventional bracket system. Tufts made it to the tournament semifinals and finished in 3rd place, narrowly missing the final round. Two weeks later, Tufts A attended Great Chicago Fire and finished 3rd, narrowly missing the final round again. This becomes a theme. Tufts B attended UCLASSIC and did not place. Tufts C and Tufts D also attended invitationals for the first time ever; the former went to Arizona’s Cactus Classic and the latter went to Florida’s Swamp Invitational. Tufts then sent 4 teams to Regionals, where Tufts A and B won the Regional they attended and A, B, and C all earned bids to ORCS. At ORCS, Tufts A went undefeated and won their ORCS, earning a fourth consecutive bid to the NCT. Tufts B narrowly missed a bid by one ballot. At the NCT, TMT placed 2nd in our division—our highest finish ever. Junior Bennett Demsky won an All-American attorney award and junior Alexander Thompson won an All-American witness award. Alexander Thompson was the highest ranked witness in the division. Junior Bennett Demsky competed at Trial by Combat in June, where he finished 2nd.

2019 - 2020

Arvind Goday (’20) and Maya Schoucair (’20) were elected to the presidency. TMT began its invitational season by sending two teams to the Happy Valley Invitational hosted by Penn State. Then two teams competed at our very own Mumbo Jumbo invitational placing 5th and 7th. Tufts attended Haverford’s Black Squirrel Invite and took 2nd place. TMT ended its invitational season at a round-robin with Wesleyan and Yale after Cornell’s BRIC invite was cancelled. Tufts A and Tufts B started their seasons at the Yale invitational. The A team took 3rd in the A division and the B team took 2nd in the B division. In January, the A team flew to Chicago for the prestigious Great Chicago Fire invite, while the B team drove to Georgetown for the competitive Hilltop invite. In Chicago, the A Team competed against the best teams in the country without dropping a single ballot and finished with a 7-0-1 record, earning TMT a spot in a final round for the first time in our program’s history. Tufts lost a good round to Virginia A in the final. Meanwhile, the B team held their own at Georgetown, taking home a 2nd place trophy. Tufts then sent 4 teams to regionals with Tufts A, B, and D earning bids to ORCS. At ORCS, both Tufts A and Tufts B finished with 6-2 records. Tufts A went undefeated and earned a bid to the NCT while Tufts B narrowly missed a bid by a mere .5 of a CS point earning the first honorable mention. The Chicago NCT was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, Senior Steven Becker became the first competitor from Tufts to participate in Trial by Combat.

2018 - 2019

Emma Kahn (’19) and Kay Milano (’20) were elected to the presidency. Tufts began its invitational by sending a team to Columbia’s Big Apple Invitational Tournament. In November, TMT hosted the 11th Mumbo Jumbo Invitational Tournament, which had the most competitive field in its history. Next, Tufts attended the Brandeis Invitational. TMT swept the tournament bringing home 1st and 2nd place trophies. Tufts ended its invitational season with a 2nd place win at Rutgers’ Scarlet Knight and a 7th place finish at Yale. In January, Tufts A competed at the Shutdown Showdown, competing against some of the top A teams in the nation. Tufts B travelled to Washington D.C. to start their season at the prestigious Hilltop Invitational. TMT began the AMTA season by sending 3 teams to regionals. Tufts A and Tufts B earned bids to ORCS with 7-1 and 6-2 records respectively. At the Chestnut Hill ORCS, Tufts A finished 2nd and earned a bid to the NCT with a 7.5 ballot finish. Tufts B finished with a 4-4 record. Tufts A ended the season at the National Championship in Philadelphia with a record of 8 wins, earning an honorable mention. Junior Arvind Goday won an All-American witness award.

2017 - 2018

Ben Reytblat (’18) and Ellie Powers (’18) were elected to the presidency. Tufts began the fall season by sending two to Columbia’s University’s Big Apple Invitational Tournament. After competing against the nation’s top teams, TMT won the tournament and both teams placed within the top 10 (1st and 9th). The following weekend, Tufts sent teams to Penn State’s Happy Valley Invitational and Duke’s Tobacco Road Invitational, placing 5th and 6th, respectively. Tufts then placed 5th at the Brandeis Invitational and 7th at the UPenn Quaker Classic Invitational. TMT’s fall season culminated with a 4th place finish at the Yale Invitational, marking the end of one of the most successful seasons in Tufts Mock Trial history. In addition to team awards, TMTers won outstanding attorney and witness awards at almost every single fall tournament. This led to TMT being named a “2018 Team to Watch” by a popular commentator on a mock trial ranking website: Perjuries.com. During the spring semester, Tufts competed at NYU’s Downtown Invitational in the SDNY Federal Courthouse and the Georgetown Invitational in downtown Washington D.C., facing off against top ranked teams in the year’s most challenging invitational tournaments. This helped prepare the program to win three bids out of the Princeton and New Haven Regionals, the most bids out of regionals since 2015. At the Central Islip ORCS, Tufts A won a bid to the National Championship Tournament. Tufts B was just a half ballot away from a second bid. TMT also won the Spirit of AMTA Award, presented to the nicest and most sportsmanlike team at the tournament. At the National Championship in Minneapolis, TMT placed 6th out of 48 teams. Freshman Will Porter won an All-American Witness Award for his portrayal of a Joker character witness.

2016 - 2017

Shashank Jejurikar (’17) and Caroline McBrien (’18) were elected to the presidency. Tufts began the season by sending a Captain’s Team to Columbia’s University’s prestigious CUBAIT regional, where TMT competed with the top teams in the nation. Following CUBAIT, Tufts sent two teams to Penn State, and for the first time in its history, fielded teams in tournaments hosted by Cornell University and Berkeley University. Through the invitationals season, TMT earned numerous individual and team awards, including first-place finishes at the Brandeis Invitational and the Yale University Invitational. For the spring season, TMT re-shuffled into an A, B, and two C teams. After traveling to D.C. to compete in the Georgetown University Invitational, Tufts A earned a second-place bid at the Boston College Regional, with a 7-1 record. Tufts B followed up soon after with a 6-2 regionals record, earning two bids to the program. TMT’s season ended in the Open Round Championship Series in Central Islip, NY, after 8 rounds from Tufts A and Tufts B.

2015 - 2016

Katie Grosch (’16) and Sara Weiss (’16) were elected to the presidency. TMT began the season by winning UMass Amherst’s Commonwealth Classic with an undefeated 8-0 record, and followed up the win with a 2nd place finish at the Brandeis invitational.  As a result of TMT’s 5-place finish at the National Championship Tournament last year, Tufts A started the spring season with its first appearance at the prestigious Downtown Invitational, which boasted 16 elite teams competing in two brackets. With a record of 5-4, Tufts placed 5th. The spring season started with a bid out of the Central Islip, NY Regional for Tufts A, and a bid out of New Haven, Connecticut for Tufts C. TMT sent two reshuffled teams to the Opening Round Championship in Wilmington, DE, and both teams fought hard throughout the weekend against the top teams in the Northeast region. The Tufts teams ultimately did not qualify for a bid to the 2016 Bell Tower Championship in Greenville, North Carolina. 

2014 - 2015

Nicholas Teleky (‘15) returned to the presidency, alongside former Co-President Anna Lyons (‘15). TMT started off the season with a 3rd-place win at Penn State and a 5th-place finish at Brandeis. Following an unexpected wait-list invite one week before the tournament, Tufts built an impromptu A-team to send to Washington, DC for its first appearance at UVA’s prestigious Great American Mock Trial Invitational, where the team came in 4th out of 22 top-ranked teams with a 8-3-1 record, and brought home four individual awards, including the tournament’s highest-ranked witness and its highest-ranked attorney. TMT then competed for the first time across the country, at the University of California – Irvine’s Beach Party tournament. At Beach Party, which uses an unconventional bracket system, two unstacked teams made the quarterfinals, making Tufts one of the first schools to ever make the quarterfinals on their first appearance. Nic TMT ended the fall semester with a first-place finish at Yale. In the spring, Tufts won three bids to the State College, PA ORC, and from there moved onto the National Championship Tournament in Cincinnati, OH, with a record of 6.5 wins. In Cincinnati, the Tufts team placed 5th with a record of 7-5, the highest number of ballots won by Tufts at an official AMTA 3-ballot tournament, and the best performance by a Tufts team since 2011. Senior Benjamin Kurland brought home his first All-American Witness award. 

2013 - 2014

Brian Pilchik (’14) and Nicholas Teleky (’15) were elected as Co-Presidents in 2013. The fall semester started with a strong showing at Brandeis, with Tufts teams placing third and fifth. Next, Tufts placed fifth at Columbia University’s Big Apple Invitational, third at American University’s WONK tournament, and third at our own Mumbo Jumbo tournament. The fall season ended with a second-place victory at Yale. In the spring, Tufts earned three bids to the Philadelphia, PA ORC, and at ORCS, Tufts earned one bid to the National Championship Tournament in Orlando, FL.  Tufts won one bid to the NCT in Orlando, FL. The team went 5-7 in the three-judge tournament, earning Nicholas Teleky his first All-American Attorney award and Samantha Sokol (’14) double-sided All-American Witness awards. Samantha Sokol was the highest-ranked witness at the tournament. 

2012 - 2013
In 2012, Lindsey Wright (’13) was re-elected to the presidency, alongside newly-elected Anna Lyons (’15). This semester, TMT’s fall invitational schedule expanded past the Northeast for the first time. Tufts began the season with our second consecutive first-place win at the Thanksgiving Classic at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. TMT followed up that win with impressive second place finishes at both Penn State’s Happy Valley Invitational and the Inaugural Boston College Invitational. In the spring, TMT earned an unprecedented four bids to ORCS from the Manchester, NH and Boston, MA Regionals, with each of its four teams placing among the top seven at each tournament. TMT travelled to Easton, Pennsylvania for one of the most challenging ORCs in AMTA’s history, and won two bids to Nationals with second- and third-place finishes for the A and B team, respectively. TMT had won the maximum possible number of bids for a single school at each level of competition, and for the first time, Tufts brought two teams to the NCT in Washington, D.C. Tufts finished 4-8 and 3-9 in the three-judge tournament, earning Mario Feola (’15) his first All-American Witness award.

 

2011 - 2012
Nicholas LoCastro (’12) and Lindsey Wright (’13) became Co-Presidents in 2011 following the departure of Tomas Garcia (‘12), who was elected TCU Senate President. After selecting the biggest new-member class in its history, TMT expanded to four competing teams for the first year. TMT took first at the Mumbo Jumbo Invitational, and then first again at the Thanksgiving Classic at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For the first time, Tufts took first place at the Yale Mock Trial Invitational, widely regarded to be the most competitive invitational in the Northeast. In the spring, the teams took two bids out of Boston, MA, for their second appearance at the White Plains ORC. There, TMT won a bid to their third consecutive National Championship Tournament, this time in Minneapolis, MN. The team flew to Minneapolis and finished 3-4-1, and Nicholas LoCastro picked up another All-American Attorney award.

 

 

 

2010 - 2011
Under the leadership of Tomas Garcia (‘12) and Jon Lautin (‘11), TMT continued to grow. Tufts won its first two invitational tournaments in the fall, finishing 8-0 at UNH’s Wildcat Invitational and our own Mumbo Jumbo Invitational. The depth of talent TMT’s members began to show, as members of all classes began picking up personal awards at every invitational Tufts attended. In the spring, Tufts qualified two teams to ORCs, finishing 6-1-1 and 6-2 at the Worcester Regional. This marked the improvement of Tufts as a program, solidifying the status of our B team as a competitive entity. For the second year in a row, we attended the NCT, having placed 4th at the White Plains ORC. After receiving supplemental funding to compete at the National Championship Tournament, Team 1602 flew to Iowa and competed against multiple former National Champions in the Conlin Division. We finished with a record of 6-2, resulting in a third-place finish and earning Nicholas LoCastro both an All-American Attorney award and an All-American Witness award. As a result of this NCT finish, only 5 years after our first appearance at a regional tournament, TMT was ranked 5th amongst all programs in the nation.

 

 

 

 

 

2009 - 2010
In 2009-2010, under the direction of Co-Presidents Rebekah Sokol (’10) and Jon Lautin (’11), TMT continued to improve. The second annual Mumbo Jumbo Invitational proved to be a huge success, with more teams in attendance, better competition, and an improved judging pool. This year’s tournament laid the foundation for Mumbo Jumbo to be regarded as one of the best invitational tournaments in the Northeast. In the spring, TMT won one bid at the Providence, RI Regional, as well as four individual awards. An uneven reshuffling of regionals kept TMT from picking up at second bid. Team 1602 then went on to compete at the Boston ORC, where Tufts finished with a 7-1 record, qualifying us for the NCT for the first time in our short history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2008 - 2009
TMT elected two new Co-Presidents, Jim Wright (’09) and Rebekah Sokol (’10), while outgoing Co-President Jeffrey Kiok (’09) graduated early and became an alumni coach. The program expanded to four teams after competitive tryouts. Co-President Rebekah Sokol and coach Jeffrey Kiok co-taught an Explorations Course (an advising option for incoming Tufts first-year students) in the fall semester, while Rebekah and Jim taught the annual Mock Trial Quidnunc course in the spring semester. Additionally, in November, the program hosted the First Annual Mumbo Jumbo Invitational Tournament, which was quite successful. TMT had a very successful season, expanding within the Tufts community. TMT won two bids out of the Boston Regional to the Memphis, Tennessee Opening Round Championship (ORC). Furthermore, two additional Tufts teams competed in the Bristol, Rhode Island Regional, winning another bid there to an ORC in Greenville, South Carolina. TMT ultimately declined its third bid, and sent two teams to Memphis. At the 2009 Memphis ORC, team 1402 garnered 5 wins, receiving an honorable mention and coming up 1 win short of qualifying for the National Championship, while team 1401 won 3 ballots. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2007 - 2008
TMT attended various invitationals, and sent two teams to the New Haven Regional and one team to the Bristol Regional. The program ran a Quidnunc Course through the Tufts Experimental College, allowing members to advance their skills and receive academic credit for the significant work done throughout the year. This year, TMT achieved its first bid out of New Haven to the Hamilton, Ohio Opening Round Championship (ORC), having placed third overall at New Haven. In Ohio, the Tufts team ranked well against the high-caliber competition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2006 - 2007
TMT went to its first invitational tournament, the Crimson Classic, in the fall semester. In the spring, TMT sent two teams to the Jamaica, Queens Regional in New York City. During the off-season, TMT went through a significant re-organization, creating the forerunner of its present Constitution, as well as solidifying its financial position with the Tufts Community Union.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2005 - 2006
TMT competed at Clark University again in 2006. That year, however, TMT was beset by bureaucratic and financial difficulties. These were surmounted by the time regionals began. Upon the completion of 2005-2006 season, Hailey Fitzgerald (’08) and Jeffrey Kiok (’09) were elected as incoming Co-Presidents, and began a plan of expanding the program to two teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2003 - 2005
Tufts Mock Trial was founded in 2003 by then-sophomores Sam Bookin (’06) and Lindsey Lautin (’06). Both had competed in high school mock trial, but were dismayed to find that there was no mock trial program at Tufts University. During that first year, Sam and Lindsey established the foundations for the organization that would become Tufts Mock Trial and visited a Regional Tournament at Princeton to learn how collegiate mock trial was conducted. The following season, Tufts Mock Trial competed in its first regional at Clark University.