“We’re just a diverse group...ranging from government to economics to physics majors,” Chandrasekhara said.
In the courtroom, three team members act as attorneys, and three as witnesses. Trials can run as long as three and a half hours from opening to closing arguments.
Two real-life attorneys judge the trial, each submitting a separate ballot.
At nationals, the blue team split the first round with Georgia Tech. After beating the University of Minnesota and Florida A&M, the team lost narrowly to Columbia.
Rao said that watching the loss was the most memorable experience of the tournament. He described the round as a “close and spirited” battle.
“It humbles you to lose to a team that is excellent,” Kraemer said.
Some team members recalled fun moments playing witnesses during the rounds.
At the Princeton regional, one female team member donned a wig and make-up to play a middle-aged witness. Princeton happened to be having an alum event over the weekend, and in the bathroom, one alum mistook the team member for an older graduate herself.
The captains and team members look forward to a successful season next year. The team has made nationals two years in a row, and Chandrasekhara believes that they are “getting more recognized across campus” as a result.
But the team needs more funding if it is to send more teams to national championships. Other schools have larger programs: Yale, for example, fields six teams.
The mock trial team at Harvard is entirely student-led and almost entirely student-funded.
“I hope that the college recognizes the needs of its students, the needs of those students dedicating large amounts of their time to representing the college in competitive competitions in the Northeast and around the country,” Daniel L. Goodkin ’06, a member of the team, wrote in an e-mail.
“What I can say ultimately about this team is this: If I had to defend myself against some serious and of course unfounded charge in a court of law, I would not hesitate to enlist the services of my teammates to defend me,” Goodkin wrote.