Three years after two Harvard first years founded the College's Mock Trial team, this year's squad placed in the top 10 at the national championship tournament last weekend.

Sunday in Des Moines, Iowa, the Harvard team, which won its regional competition in February, competed against 63 other regional winners and took sixth place, according to team member Laura E. Rosenbaum '00, who is a Crimson editor.

Harvard's seven-member team sent both attorneys and witnesses to participate in the championships. Attorney teams prepare both sides of a fictional civil case, and are judged on the persuasiveness of their case and their knowledge of the law.

Witness are judged on their knowledge of their character's testimony and their ability to react to the attorneys' questions in character.

Marvin B. Tagaban '00 was the recipient of the All-American Witness Award for being one of the best witness in the competition and got to compete in the All-American Trial, a final showcase featuring the best participants.

Other members of the team included Steven C. Wu '02, Hugh P. Liebert '01, Christopher G. Swart '00, Lauren A. Wetzler '00 and Tanya L. Barnes '00.

Barnes and Wetzler founded the team during their first year at Harvard.

Wetzler said she feels the mock trial team provides practical trial experience for students who may wish to pursue a career in law.

"It helps build teamwork and skills of trial advocacy. I think mock trial provides students who are interested with real courtroom experience," Wetzler said.

Wetzler also expressed the significance of the team's sixth-place ranking.

"I think the No. 6 is a huge boost. This is the first time to my knowledge that Harvard placed anywhere in this tournament. This is a huge boost," Wetzler said.

"It was also different to be competing in front of judges from Iowa than judges from the East because they expect different things," she added. "Next year we'll know what it means to go to nationals."

This year the mock trial teams took on a wrongful death civil suit in which a grieving spouse sued the maker of an airplane's fuel gauge, alleging that the gauge's malfunction led to their spouse's case and death.

The opposing side argued that an investigation had turned up no conclusive evidence and the crash was due to bad weather and pilot error.