Let the Trials Begin

The 2016 American Mock Trial Association National Championship is taking place on campus this weekend, with teams from 48 colleges and universities around the country, including Furman, trying to become this year’s champions.

The Bell Tower Championship takes place April 15-17.  The championship round, which will be held in Younts Conference Center on Sunday at 4 p.m., will be livestreamed by Greenville television station WYFF.

The tournament is hosted by Furman and presented by the Charleston School of Law.

During the three-day competition, the students will assume the roles of both lawyers and witnesses as they participate in full “mock” trials in front of professional judges and attorneys.  The 48 teams are divided into two divisions of 24 teams each, and the first-place teams from each division will face off in the championship final round.

Harvard University, which is in this year’s field, is the defending champion.

In addition to the Furman campus, the trials will be held at the Greenville Municipal Courthouse, Greenville County Courthouse and Haynsworth Federal Courthouse for the preliminary rounds of the tournament.  The championship round will take place Sunday, April 17 in the Younts Conference Center at Furman.

The trials are open to the public.

More than 300 attorneys and judges from 22 different states will be serving as judges for the Bell Tower Championship.  When adding students and their families to the total, Furman officials say more than 1,000 people will be involved in the tournament.

For more information about the tournament is available here and on the Bell Tower Championship website, or by contacting Paige Blankenship at 864-294-3547 or paige.blankenship@furman.edu.