Each spring, in hundreds of nondescript rooms across the country, around 700 collegiate mock trial teams compete. Team members collaborate to create compelling arguments, for both the mock defense and prosecution, to win their respective cases.
Tensions run high and each team member must be fully prepared and in character to advance to the national competition. Only 7% of all collegiate teams qualify.
The University of Cincinnati's team joined the elite competition this year for the first time since 2019, appearing in April in the American Mock Trial Association's national championship in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
UC's team is comprised mainly of students from the College of Arts and Sciences, with more than two-thirds of the nationals team enrolled in an A&S major.
The UC Mock Trial Team had the unique opportunity of competing with all-female team with co-captains Divya Kumar and Zophia Pittman-Jones leading.
Kumar, who has been on the team since her first year at UC, is a third-year history major. She was awarded an All-American Attorney Award at Nationals.
