Teams from 32 law schools have descended on the University of Buffalo Law School for a major mock trial competition, which runs through Monday.
According to an article in The Buffalo News, the sixth annual Buffalo-Niagara National Mock Trial Competition, which this year drew teams from 16 states, is the largest such law school competition in the country.
In addition to the host school, law school teams hail from Fordham, Syracuse, Illinois, Temple, Georgia and Michigan State, among many others. Approximately 150 local lawyers and judges have volunteered to grade competitors in the 73 scheduled trials. State Supreme Court Justice and U. Buffalo professor Kevin Dillon will judge the final trial.
For the case at hand, this year’s trial does not lack drama. The mock defendant is a law professor and the murdered victim a law school dean, with a law school student in the middle of the narrative.
“You’ve got a dead dean, a femme fatale and a slew of suspects to go around; [I was] assured the fact pattern is entirely fictional,” joked Erie County Judge and competition director Thomas Franczyk.
