Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Law Students Blogs -> SoapBox Law

Law Students

: SoapBox Law

Last Trial Team Competition!

I have to say that this trial team competition experience was one I savored. One of my teammates and I carpooled up to San Francisco Friday morning (where I learned, incidentally, that San Franciscans don?t like the term ?Frisco) and we checked into the surprisingly nice and centrally located (at least for our purposes) Parc 55 Hotel. After grabbing some bread bowl chowda from Lefty O?Doul?s, we found out that I and a teammate were competing that afternoon at the district court (the same place I competed in last year). While we ended up winning the round that Friday afternoon, that ended up being the only round I competed in due to the capricious nature of the tournament. Fortunately, the other team we fielded advanced to the finals, so, as a group, we were able to represent the school well. (Pic: This is our entire team at the 9th Circuit cafe breathlessly waiting for our results. Tommy, Michelle, Erica, Me, Tariq, Sara, Shelly, Dan and Ryan. Ann Marie is the only member of our team not pictured.)

Favorite Moments:

- I love deflating the opposition and I felt I was able to do so a few times on Friday afternoon. Here are two examples: (1) opposing counsel attempted to introduce a police report into evidence. I object as inadmissible hearsay. They say this is a public record exception to the hearsay rule. I respond ?Under the federal rules of evidence 803(8), police reports are specifically excluded from the public records exception.? The judge looks at him ?What do you say to that?? Opposing counsel looks down at his feet and meekly said ?submitted.? I admirably concealed my smirk. (2) This happened again when they tried to exclude a receipt from coming in, objecting to it as hearsay. Judge, ?Response?? Me, ?Your honor, the 5^th and 2^nd circuits have held that receipts are admissible under the business records exception because of they possess the requisite indicia of reliability.? Opposing counsel: ?There is no one who can testify to the custody of the receipt.? Me, ?Your honor, stipulation #11 in the record at 2 states that both sides recognize all exhibits as authentic, therefore testimony as to authenticity and custody is unnecessary.? Face!

- On Saturday morning, while the other two members of my team were competing, I was recruited to be a witness for another court room. Usually they have enough volunteers, but apparently a bunch of people canceled, and since I know the problem, they needed me to fill in. I was really able to amuse myself as I played the investigating officer. For example, I was asked by the plaintiff (whose side my witness is sympathetic to) about finding a beer can in the back seat. Plaintiff?s counsel wanted to know the condition of the can. Now the record merely says that a beer can was found. It does not say what condition it was in, so I made up a fact that was beneficial to the plaintiffs, ?It was full and unopened.? This threw the plaintiff attorney off because they asked me if I was sure. ?Yes. 100%.? While my guy was uneasy, he backed off. The defense attorney thought there was blood in the water and when it was his turn, he tried to impeach me. ?You remember taking a deposition in this matter? You were under oath? You signed it? Verified it for truthfulness?? etc. Yes, yes, and yes. So the defense attorney was shuffling the deposition record to look for the spot where ?I? earlier testified about the beer can being found. So I tried to help him, ?I think you are looking for page 19, line 11. Do you want me to read it?? ?Um, sure.? ?I found a beer can in the back seat.? Period. ?Why didn?t you mention this before?? ?No one asked me.? After a moment of silence he said quietly ?No further questions.?

Least Favorite Moments:

- I was surprisingly bummed when Dan, Erica and I didn?t advance. I?m way over it now, but at the time, I felt like throwing a chair. I failed to take my own advice about not making emotional investments into a competition that is so arbitrary and subjective. I was caught hoping it would be arbitrary in my favor this time because I felt we worked hard, we were good, and I thought we were in a position to do well. It just didn?t work out that way.

- I hate San Francisco. It is dirty, crowded, stinky and dangerous. And that?s just Fisherman?s Wharf. Our hotel was fairly close to the federal district building and the 9^th circuit building, so we walked to and from. However, virtually every inch of the sidewalk reeked with urine and feces. I observed at least three separate drug transactions in my 10 minutes of walking. I saw dozens of certifiably insane people pacing aimlessly in the streets. And I felt like I was playing hop scotch trying not to step on hypodermic needles. Thanks for the Golden Gate Bridge, I guess AT&T is a nice ball park, certain parts of Golden Gate Park are nice if not dangerous, and there are some good places to eat. But outside of that, there are almost no redeemable qualities for ?the City.?

Conclusion: I love the trial team experience. It was a blast working hard together preparing for the various competitions and I learned a lot. I really feel like I know the rules of evidence and I feel a lot more comfortable in a court room than I would otherwise. We?ll likely have a break for a few weeks but than we?ll get going on picking a new team for next year, which is also a fun experience.

Here are some Pics:

Here is Dan working on his plaintiff's closing in the Wharburton Room in Heafy Library. Dan was a "swinger" in the three member team who argued both plaintiff and defense. I was mired in representing only the defense.

Here is Sara, Tommy and Michelle with Ryan attempting to avoid being photo'd in the bottom while they were practicing down the hall from where Dan, Erica and I were practicing. Tommy was the other swing guy and with Ryan and Shelly (not pictured) led his team to the finals.

Here the view of "lovely" downtown San Francisco from my hotel room. Even our nice hotel entrance was not immune from the smell of human excrement.

Tommy, Erica, Dan, Ryan, Shelly and Sara's arm toasting our Friday night successes in a nice Italian restaurant across the street from our hotel.

Dan, Erica and I at the 9th Circuit shortly after Dan and Erica competed Saturday morning shortly after I wandered court room to court room filling in for missing witnesses. We had a great time working together. Yes, I am wearing a pink shirt.

Full post as published by SoapBox Law on February 18, 2008 (boomark / email).