Mock Trial Team discusses adversity

By Jeremy Martin SENIOR STAFF WRITER

Editor’s note: Spartan Daily staff writer Alina Ta is a member of the SJSU Mock Trial Team.

They’re a team of lawyers and witnesses, who aren’t in the courtroom yet. Despite their position, they still manage to mock the competition.

The San Jose State Mock Trial Team is a club where students participate in a debate sport, creating a mock-up version of a court case.

Students act out their roles of both lawyers and witnesses.

Mary Ashley Fortuno, president and team captain of the club and sociology senior, said the club was would say outside just on extracurriculars, and then we do internalize scrimmages.”

Fortuno said the program tries to “keep the theme of representation alive” and the program has a diverse board.

She said it could inspire others to feel like they belong in the group even though they may not feel like they match the typical mock trial crowd.

“I think the biggest thing is just representing our culture’s, our gender, because gender is one thing that is a disparity, but then you add color on to it,” Fortuno said. “It’s like a double whammy almost.” founded in 2019.

She said the club focuses on a number of valuable skills within the sport.

“It mostly focuses on litigation, public speaking and critical thinking skills, as well as teamwork,” Fortuno said.

She said the student-run club receives aid from the philosophy department and from its club advisors, Rebecca Chan and Étienne Brown.

The team participates in various tournaments, starting at the regional level and advancing to the national level.

Fortuno said the team starts practice in August, when case packets are released, and continues to practice until February.

“We have all of that time to scrimmage schools, to prepare our case and go to regionals in February,” she said. “Every week, we work at least six to 10 hours, I

SJSU alumnus Leon Lam, who was the assistant coach for the Mock Trial Team, said he still remembers the discrimination the club faced.

Leon was a founding member of the club and went to many competitions with the group.

He said at competitions, the group was not safe from ridicule.

“One year, we had an all kind of Asian American team, at least the attorneys were, one of the attorneys had a cough, and this was during the height of the COVID pandemic,” Lam said. “Of course, one of the judges made a COVID joke.”

He also said the judges had criticized female members.

On another occasion, Lam said a judge made comments about female competitors needing to act

Mock Trial Team

Continued from page 1 sweet when interacting with witnesses in cases.

When talking about discrimination, he also said he encourages members to embrace their differences and become one with their own individuality.

Fortuno said the discrimination that the team gets thrown at them isn’t limited to race or gender, but it also covers the competitions themselves.

Fortuno said this definitely came into play during the announcement of the programs witness award at this year’s competition.

“When they actually announced San Jose State, the room kind of went quiet and I heard a couple of chuckles, because no one was expecting San Jose State – little old San Jose State,” Fortuno said. “Again, we’re looked down on because we are a CSU, because we’re a newfound program – no one really takes us seriously.”

She said Margarita Mora, who is in her first year as a member of the club, won the witness award.

Harveen Kaur, vice president of the Mock Trial Team and political science sophomore, said Mora had to work hard in preparation for the competition.

She said Mora had to train herself to cry on command, as she played the part of a victim, whose husband was killed in the trial.

“She would internalize the character, she’d be like, ‘I’m not Margarita anymore – I’m this character, my husband died in this crash,’ ” Kaur said. “ ‘I’m trying to get, you know, I’m trying to sue this company that killed my husband,’ and she was just kind of getting into the zone.”

She said she had to train herself to feel the same feelings as Mora and get into that same mindset.

“I was an attorney for Margarita and, you know, I have to feel for her,” Kaur said. “I have to feel for this character.”

Climate Science senior Mora said she had a lengthy preparation process for the competition.

“If you had seen me during that tournament, I would actually put myself in an isolated corner, put earbuds on, and I would get in character for like 30 minutes,” Mora said.

She said once she tapped into the mindset, she let her human instincts take over from there.

“Once you kind of get into a crying mood, I’m sure everyone has felt this, it’s not too difficult to keep it going,” Mora said.

After winning the award, Mora said the surprised looks of the others in the competition was disappointing at first, but didn’t matter once they announced that the team had won.

She said this was a really good feeling for the team and made them realize that they just proved everyone wrong.

“I remember afterwards, my team was telling me that when they said San Jose State University, they actually heard some of the other teams laughing,” Mora said. “When they announced our team, and they announced my name, the scream that our entire team gave was just the most heartfelt scream you can imagine.”

She said the moment was surreal.

“It really is a feeling of just punching through what everyone expects,” Mora said

Fortuno said the club has struggled to receive funding and resources from SJSU, as the university doesn’t have a law school.

She said schools including University of California, Berkeley have a law school and access to lawyers and coaches.

Fortuno said spreading the word that the club exists and competes would help them receive more funding.

One of the ways the club receives funding is through a SJSU crowdfunding campaign.

Business administration freshman Shankhin Vijayakumar said the club does receive a small amount of additional funding.

“In addition to donations from our own families, and money out of our pockets, we do get an amount of A.S. funding,” Vijayakumar said. “And we use that to pay for our travel expenses, and our hotels, and registering for tournaments, it goes directly into the program – none of the money is wasted.”

Fortuno said she has future plans for tabling this year outside the student union.

She said, because the club has expanded in members since it was founded, they are in need of more funding to support its activities.