UTC wins first bid to national mock trial championship

This post first appeared in the Hamilton County Harold, here.

The UTC Mock Trial program made history this year by earning a bid to the American Mock Trial Association’s national championship, to be hosted in late April in Los Angeles. This marks the first time a University of Tennessee Chattanooga team has advanced to the championship.

The team’s accomplishment places them among the top 48 out of approximately 650 teams across the country that compete in college mock trial. Other schools advancing this year include Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Duke and Stanford.

To get to nationals, UTC earned one of two bids out of the regionals competition in Kentucky in February and a bid out of the super regionals in Ohio in March, beating out teams like Vanderbilt and Notre Dame.

The nationals bid caps off UTC’s most successful season to date, which included the highest win record the program has ever earned at regionals, three top-three tournament finishes and eight individual awards.

UTC is coached by Mike Giglio of the Law Offices of J. Michael Giglio, Stephanie Fast of Widgets & Stone, and Erika Hyde of Miller & Martin.

Mock trial is a public speaking competition in which teams of college students present examinations, argue objections and advocate on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in simulated jury trials.