During Spring Break, when much of the campus was away on vacation, the Mock Trial Society was gearing up for competition. After weeks of intense preparation, they made their way to Xavier University in Cincinnati for the Open Round Championship Series (ORCS), which took place from March 15th to the 17th.
There, they faced a strong group of teams that had each earned a bid to ORCS, including Boston College, Hillsdale College, and Georgetown University. But this did not stop Dartmouth Mock Trial, who emerged from the tournament with the third-highest record of any team there and a coveted bid to the National Championship Tournament (NCT).
This is the first time that Dartmouth Mock Trial has earned a bid to NCT since 2008 and follows two years where the team had come within ½ of a ballot from qualifying. When asked about the tournament and what led the team to such success, Team Captain Kavya Nivarthy '25 said "With months of prep, many late nights, and lots of constructive criticism behind us, the team left it all out there in trial—skillfully arguing objections, dominating the courtroom on opening and closing arguments, and shining as actors on the witness stand. We finished with a record of 6-2, placing us 3rd in the ORCS tournament. We couldn't be prouder of the team and are so happy our hard work paid off. Nationals, here we come!"
Certain individuals on the team got special recognition at ORCS: Uma Misha '26 and Carlo Guerrini-Maraldi '26 each received an 'Outstanding Witness Award'; and team captain Paige Pattison '24 earned an 'Outstanding Attorney Award'.
They now have less than a month to prepare an entirely new prosecution and defense for a case they just received, which centers around the involuntary manslaughter of a patient due to the overprescription of allegedly unnecessary drugs. We will be cheering them on as they go compete on the national stage!