<p>Hey Everyone-</p>
<p>My name is Michael D’Ippolito and I am on the Executive Board of Duke Mock Trial, one of the largest and most successful intercollegiate Mock Trial programs in the nation. Over the past few years, Duke has become a force in college Mock Trial, competing in the national championship tournament and placing top 20 in the nation six out of the last seven years. During the 2009 season Duke Mock Trial had one of its best performances with a 10th place finish at the national championship.</p>
<p>In an effort to continue the program’s success in the 2009-2010 season we are accepting new recruits. If you are creative, motivated, enjoy having a good time and possess a winning attitude then you are exactly who we are looking for. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need prior mock trial experience to join. Also, mock trial is not just for pre-law students—it’s for anyone who enjoys arguing, public speaking, winning, acting, and competing. In fact, in the past, some of Duke’s top competitors did not have experience prior to joining and were not pre-law students. </p>
<p>For more information on Duke Mock Trial, feel free to visit our website, <a href=“http://duke.edu/web/dukemocktrial[/url]”>http://duke.edu/web/dukemocktrial</a>. If you are interested in trying out for Duke Mock Trial in the fall, please email myself (<a href=“mailto:Michael.dippolito@duke.edu”>Michael.dippolito@duke.edu</a>) or one of our recruitment board members: Ekaterina Petrova (<a href=“mailto:Ekaterina.petrova@duke.edu”>Ekaterina.petrova@duke.edu</a>) or Emily Shiau (<a href=“mailto:Emily.Shiau@duke.edu”>Emily.Shiau@duke.edu</a>). </p>
<p>You can also find us on our Facebook thread:[Duke</a> Mock Trial | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook”>Facebook).<br>
If you respond, we’ll add you to our mailing list, and keep your up-to-date about information sessions and tryout dates, which will take place at the beginning of the school year. Also, feel free to contact me or one of our other recruitment board members if you have any questions concerning Duke Mock Trial.</p>
<p>We look forward to hearing from you!</p>
<p>Sincerely,
Michael D’Ippolito
Communications Secretary
Duke Mock Trial</p>
<p>Sign me up for the 2010-2011 team. =) There’s just that slightly-important issue of being accepted that I need to clear first though, hahah.</p>
<p>What is the time commitment like? How long are practices?</p>
<p>Hey Vasudevank-</p>
<p>While there is no definitive response to your question, I can say that Duke Mock Trial is a serious time commitment. All members of our traveling teams should be willing to put in a minimum of 6 hours a week in practice and preparation during the fall semester, and usually meet a few times a week.</p>
<p>Hope that helps. If you (or anyone) are interested in learning more about Duke Mock Trial/would like to try out in the fall, please either email me at <a href=“mailto:michael.dippolito@duke.edu”>michael.dippolito@duke.edu</a>, or post on: [Duke</a> Mock Trial | Facebook](<a href=“Facebook”>Facebook). From there, we will add you to our mailing list.</p>
<p>Duke Mock Trial just won the national championship out of a field of 770 teams.</p>
<p>GO BLUE DEVILS!! :)</p>
<p>Hey, I just found this thread! My son will be attending Duke next year and I had been excited that Duke had won the 2010 Nationals (is that right?),but now, this is even more exciting!! </p>
<p>He has LOVED being on Mock trial in high school and has really excelled as a lead attorney. He was just saying tonight how much he enjoyed the team aspect, even the traveling together. We spoke how college could give him more opportunities like this, in sort of a hypothetical and generic sense, but then after seeing your website tonight and watching the video of the win over Rutgers (our state flagship!) I can see that opportunity right in front of my eyes!!! :)</p>
<p>Congrats to your son! My son is on Duke’s Mock Trial team, lives and breathes for it, fantastic experience! Unlike many other schools their coaches are volunteers from their law school (students), not profs or local attorneys, so the work ethic is over the top, camaraderie par excellence. The scary part is getting in–many great applicants, even more since winning Nationals 2012, first time in their hx, though they’ve qualified for Nationals quite a few times. Members/coaches stay close over the years, so there’s a great circle of life, network thing as they advance through undergrad and beyond, still connecting. Our son’s experience with all of Duke has made us permanent Duke fans even apart from March Madness. Best of luck to your son!</p>
<p>AzDukeFan - Thanks for the info! I sent you a pm… I don’t know if you can pm me back yet because you need to post a little more first… :)</p>
<p>I got the pm, must reply here for now. I’m happy to give info from a parent’s perspective, but by all means contact anyone on the board. Right now they are headed back from a tournament in NYC, long drive and I’m waiting to get the call that they have arrived safely. They placed second, tough competition so I think they will be satisfied. Read their bios for more personal info re majors, etc. Often there is a mix of acting, psych, and various traditional pre-law majors. My son’s niche in high school was Speech and Debate, but his school could not provide it his senior yr, which at the time pretty much broke all our hearts, but then they started up a Mock Trial team. He did well at the state level, and by college did not want to re-visit S&D, tried out for M.T., got wait listed, then
someone dropped out, so he made it. He’s pretty good about rolling with the punches, so he had already joined something else (LOTS of options), but was ecstatic to be the last person chosen that year! The aches breaky heart part for the parent is knowing that although your child may be quite good, any selection process has to be at least a little bit arbitrary, and may not work to your favor. One thing that might help in the selection process is for him to make it clear to the coaches that this is his top priority if in fact it is. A lot of freshman are totally excited about the smorgasbord of options to choose, and become “serial joiners” but then are spread too thin. I will post more a bit later, that way I get my numbers up so I can do pm. Son just called, back safe and sound, happy with how they did!</p>
<p>Who would I contact for Duke Mock Trial as of now? I was curious as to whether the emails listed in the initial message are still relevant!</p>
<p>I assume the original post is defunct, he was in the program but graduated. But now he’s at Duke Law and is one of the coaches of the undergrad team! Google Duke Mock trial, go to their website, hit the “Contact us” tab. That gives you the current board members. I would guess that the Pres, Vice Pres, or Recruitment Secretary would be your best info sources. Click their name and you will automatically be able to send email. The web site itself has good info too, check out all the tabs. You can get an idea about the current members in the “Members” tab, just click any individual name. Some, not all, have bios.</p>
<p>Thanks AZdukefan! Looking forward to your ability to send pms! Also, that story shows the challenge of the team… pretty intense. Last one in! Congrats on their placing in NYC! That must be a looong drive, but hopefully if you can get through the DC area at a non-peak time, it shouldn’t be too bad… or avoid it and go south through NJ?</p>
<p>Ever read the book One L, by Scott Turow? I read it as a teen and am re-reading it now. It’s about the first year of law school (Harvard) and all the stresses that go along with it. Pretty interesting. There’s also a TV show from the 70’s called The Paper Chase (which I also watched and loved!) about the same topic (first year generic Ivy, but really it’s Harvard) that I am re-watching now. Wow. 70’s TV is NOT as it is today!!</p>
<p>Hi again my3gr8boyz. I read one L last summer at my son’s request. His friends from MT who have graduated and are in law school say it’s better now. They do manage to go out to dinner with the current MT crew when a tournament brings them to the area.
Re general MT info: I think they have one tournament each in Oct, Nov,Dec, Jan. Then in mid Feb they have “Regionals”. The best teams at Regionals qualify to go to “Super Regionals” which are in mid March. Then the best at all the various Super Regionals advance to Nationals. I don’t know the numbers game on how many advance at each level, but just advancing from Super Regionals to Nationals is an accomplishment. I think I vaguely remember Paper Chase, if it’s on Netflicks I’ll check it out.</p>
<p>Oh yeah one other thing. Nationals are in mid Apr, I think 4/12 to 4/15 this yr, but of course until Regionals and Super Regionals, who qualifies for Nationals is not yet determined. An April visit to Duke during that time would be very pretty. Anyone thinking of visiting would do well to contact Duke Gardens to find out when your favorite flowers/bushes are typically in bloom, and allow time for some gardens walking. Just beautiful!</p>
<p>ok, so maybe I’m trying to get my 15 posts done in a hurry, but I do have a comment on One L. The writer went from being a college teacher to being a student in a very structured system. Anytime you are out of school awhile and, even more, being on the opposite side of the professor- student divide, diving back in to life as a student has to be a rude awakening. Assuming reasonable maturity, I think the transition to One L should be easier for a youngish, recent BS grad than for a 28ish College English prof used to having his own little fiefdom. Just babbling, I do it so well.</p>
<p>Hi everyone!</p>
<p>My name is Maya and I’m on the executive board of this year’s Mock Trial team at Duke. If you have any questions, I’m very happy to answer them. We have a great team & joining mock trial was one of the best decisions I made as a freshman. Feel free to send me a PM or contact me through our website (<a href=“https://web.duke.edu/dukemocktrial/[/url]”>https://web.duke.edu/dukemocktrial/</a>)</p>
<p>Happy to hear about the interest! We’re proud of our team & are already scouting for potential new members!</p>
<p>Maya Flippen</p>
<p>Hi Maya! I saw you on the members page! I will contact you if I can’t get my son to do it! He’s very interested, but I’m not sure he’d feel comfortable… but since you ASKED people to contact you, that should make him feel better about it. I’ll probably just PM you anyway! 
Thanks for the offer!</p>