2024 TBC Analysis

Destiny Baugh, Rhodes (Second Chair: Sam Frank, Coach: Anna Eldridge):

This post may mark a MAIMD first: the words “underdog” and “Rhodes” used in the same sentence. Save for a few years in the Dark Ages of Zoom mock trial, Rhodes has systematically torn up home turf ORCS and loomed large at Nationals no matter the location. Playing as a team sport, the Lynxes are undeniably dominant. On the individual level, though, Trial by Combat proves a challenge they just haven’t quite cracked yet. We’ve yet to see a Rhodes competitor make the cut to the semi-final, and this past year, they weren’t able to field anyone at all. Turning to the competitor herself, Destiny Baugh only has 3 individual awards on her resume by our count (and trust us, we counted, then recounted, then counted again). She stands as one of five competitors without an All-American under her belt. It also seems this was her first year competing for Rhodes A. An underdog, indeed.

With all the doom and gloom sufficiently addressed, let’s talk about why this supposed under-dog’s bite may be more than her bark. Because of those three awards? One is a GAMTI gavel. On her very first year on the A team? They took home second in their division. It seems Baugh has hit her stride just in time to impress the two people who really count– Justin Bernstein and Phil Pasquerello. And this wouldn’t be the first time that the TBC powers-who-be have thrown a curve ball in the field that more than paid off (ahem, Sonali Mehta). This wouldn't be the first time someone has found great success after reaching their full potential late in the game either (ahem, Marra Edwards). The potential marks against Baugh really don’t count her out as much as they may seem on first blush. What they do do, though, is make our job as amateur analysts much harder. Frankly, we just haven’t had the chance to size her up to the same level that we have for Debnath, Jones, and the likes. But diving into what we have seen, the decision to take her into the field makes more and more sense. She’s a Rhodes attorney through and through to be sure, but with her own personal flair that separates her from her aggressively aggressive counterparts. Her presence commands attention without overwhelming, and her content is sharp enough that it cuts deep without having to show her knives to the jury.

We’ve seen great moments from Baugh, but questions remain– was she not awarding this year simply because her benchmates were all second-at-Nationals-level great? Is there some element of divisiveness she’s yet to calibrate? Looking to help fill some of those potential gaps are second-chair Sam “Danimal the Animal” Frank, and coach Anna “why did she let him say that” Eldridge. What Baugh lacks in experience, Frank and Eldridge make up in spades. Frank led the A team this year to their smashing success, and we hope he still has whatever drinkable yogurt smoothie he brought to Chicago available for LA. As for Eldridge, if there’s any coach in the field who can take a good competitor and churn out a razor-sharp, precision-driven machine, it's her.

At TBC, awards fall to the wayside, number of years on the A team are disregarded, final round appearances are forgotten. Instead, pure competitive talent rises to the top with the aid of a lot of luck and even more caffeine. We hope that Baugh and her stellar support staff can turn the question marks into check marks come the end of June.


Laniya Davidson, Maryland (Second Chair: Gabriel Rosella, Coach: Abdullah Khan):

The avid and detail-oriented reader (see: anyone who is able to read our chart below) will notice that in our awards breakdown, Laniya Davidson is one of our competitors who has also broomstuck into her closet a witness award. And anyone who has seen Davidson NZ expert, especially if they find themself on the unfortunate end of having to cross witness Laniya, will know that it is a bit like trying to wrangle famous actor Brandybuckle Canteloupe’s Sherlock Holmes into submission.

And anyone who has been on perhaps the more unfortunate side of being crossed or trying to argue an objection against Davidson will know that besting attorney Laniya is much more like trying to wrangle famous actor Buttercrisp Coelocanth’s Sherlock Holmes into submission when John Watson has been kidnapped.

In plain language, it is extremely difficult.

Davidson comes into our yearly Scandal in Beverly Hills with a meticulously written directive on how-to-do-mock-trial that she has used time and time again to blow judges out of the water. Davidson is as by-the-book as Maryland can be – an innovative theory paired with sheer good mock trial. Like we wrote about her play-in performance last year, Davidson wins by just simply being more clean, polished, direct, assertive, and making fewer mistakes than the other team. And this year, she’s just gotten the practice to get much, much better. It seems that this year, Davidson has become a little bit allergic to not awarding. It seems that she is the hound to the podium’s Baskerville, slamming home high-ranking awards at CUBAIT and Hilltop (double attorney awarding at BOTH), and picking up another All-Region on top of it all. Though NCT teams missed Davidson’s pre-round headphone jam session and sunglasses in Chicago this year, it’s unlikely that this is going to hurt her coming into TBC. It is exactly in this period that she has rested, recovered, and stewed for more mock trial, no doubt firing her proverbial objection gun into the smiley face in the wall and yelling “BORED.” Well, this is her time to come back and establish her very own Valley of Fear around her.

The question, then, is whether Davidson’s cool head is enough to float her to the top. Will her level headed presence and clean arguments triumph in LA over more performative and passionate attorneys? What happens when her witness rounds are suddenly strict, non-expert character witnessing, or sympatheticking and a whole new ballgame emerges? What happens when a Moriarty in the form of Debnath, Vanderslice, or Farnsworth tries to, in the words of Jonathan Mulaney, trow ha uoff ha rhythm? The answer to that may lie in who she brings with her. Her own John Watson is Gabe Rosella, a talented attorney in his own right who has just enough dynamism as both attorney and witness to complement Davidson’s style. And of course, behind it all, is Mycroft Holmes analog Abdullah Khan, who has been micromanaging Maryland to success for a couple of years now. Filled with the knowledge of a coaching staff of All-American stars this year, we’re excited to see Davidson’s Study in Scarlet.

And may her ballots be filled with those seven orange pips.


Ria Debnath, UCLA (Second Chair: Luke Ryder, Coach: Elizabeth Smiley):

What are boys made of? Snips and snails and puppy dog tails. What are girls made of? Sugar and spice and everything nice. Most importantly: what are good mock trial competitors made of? The first two parts of this nursery rhyme are universally accepted, but it’s this last part that we find ourselves debating time and time again. It’s only after years of science and research that we’re able to finally give you an answer to “what are good mock trial competitors made of?” Performance and precision, and patience.

Ria Debnath certainly has all three of those. She made her debut onto the TBC scene last year after an absolutely explosive run (well, less of a run, more of a full-tilt sprint) from Claremont to Santa Monica to Memphis to All-American and National Champion to TBC. It was absolutely a marker of her incredible success and raw skill in terms of argument and performance, but ultimately she was green. Regionals, ORCS, NCT — they’re all a piece of cake for attorneys like Debnath with unparalleled ability to think on their feet and a fiery demeanor that demands absolute attention from everyone in the room, but with only a day to prepare, TBC is a completely different beast. We have no doubt that Debnath will have taken the experience last year gave her in stride and bring everything she has and more to the field this year. No doubt she’s been honing those three magic factors: performance and precision, and patience. Debnath’s virtues with the first two are easy to see: whether she’s giving an absolutely impassioned closing or watching the life drain from a witness’ face as she backs them into a corner with no possible escape, Debnath has absolutely mastered both performance and the precision that’s required to be an effective examiner. The most interesting facet of her skill sets is, of course, her ability to be patient. You can think of Debnath as the tiger lying in wait — she plays it cool through her opening and direct examination before coming to life and wrenching all of the attention in the room on her during closing and cross. In those moments she’s absolutely all charm — destroying the foundation of the opposing counsel’s arguments, driving a spike through the witness’s testimony, and all the while she remains cool and likable as ever. It’s a special skill to be able to wait for the exact moment to strike and look good while doing it, but we have no doubt that Debnath is going to turn every round on its head.

Joining Debnath is an interesting pick of second chair, Luke Ryder. Ryder just finished his first year at UCLA where he witnessed for UCLA B. While Ryder was an attorney in the fall, he was a witness in the winter–making him greener than some of Debnath’s other options. It’s an interesting choice from the Bruins, but a risk we doubt they took uncalculated. It seems like UCLA might be cooking up some new talent and we’re excited to see how he does. They’re also joined by Elizabeth Smiley, long time UCLA A coach who’s coached the last few TBC’s with various success. She’s coached a winner and also coached Debnath last year so they have the experience on their side.

From the moment she burst onto the scene in AMTA’s 2022 Rookie Rumble Final Round, Debnath has been on a mission to make sure every judge watching recognizes just how talented she is. We’re sure for the final tournament of her career she’ll be ready to put on a show, and give everyone a taste of those three magic factors honed to perfection just one last time.

Sam Farnsworth, Chicago (Second Chair: Ethan Donavan, Coach: Sam Jahangir):

It’s October 14, 2003. The Chicago Cubs are one win away from the World Series. Up 3 runs against the Florida Marlins in the eighth inning, the Cubs only need 5 more outs—and they’ll have made it. The crowd is getting louder. They know their team is about to win. As the batter for the Marlins steps up to the plate, a Cubs fan named Steve Bartman smiles from where he’s sitting in the front row by left field.

Sam Farnsworth is sitting in the ceremonial courtroom at the Kline Institute of Trial advocacy. He smiles. Yesterday he won his first attorney round, both of his witness rounds, and currently leads the field in points. The only obstacle standing between him and the Semis is five time All-American Travis Harper. But Sam is relaxed. He knows he doesn’t need to sweep the round, or even win. If Sam Farnsworth can just convert a couple of ballots, he’s all but guaranteed to move on.

Suddenly, the Marlins batter hits a foul ball to left field. Steve Bartman looks up and sees the ball flying towards him. He reaches out over the railing.

Sam’s opening was perfect. His direct made sense. Suddenly, halfway through the defendant cross, Sam asks the defendant about how they have no proof for their alibi.    

Cubs outfielder Moisés Alou jumps and reaches for the ball as well, but his arm is shoved away by Bartman.

Sam hammers the no-proof point on close. After the round, multiple judges comment that they think Sam burden-shifted.

The Cubs defense collapses. They lose the game.

Sam finishes 5th, missing the Semifinals by a fraction of a point.

Anyone who follows baseball (or, like this writer, watched The Bear and then asked Chat GPT how baseball works) knows that Steve Bartman is more a scapegoat than he is the actual cause of the Cubs’ 2003 bag-fumble. Still, we’d be shocked if Farnsworth hasn’t lost sleep over the fateful round four that kept him off the podium of collegiate mock trial’s most prestigious tournament. Farnsworth plays a cerebral, responsive style that may not be conventionally flashy, but is no less captivating—primarily because of Chicago’s uncanny ability to write bits and Sam’s uncanny ability to make them seem completely natural. But what really sets him apart from the rest of this field is his extraordinary control of tempo. Farnsworth isn’t one to speed up a witness on cross, but somehow he’s always completely in control of the pace: try to slow down, and Sam just ends up controlling the dynamic even more. And his witnessing—especially as a cop—is genuinely excellent. Farnsworth is coached by Sam Jahangir, who’s been at the helm of Chicago’s program for years, and second chaired by Ethan Donovan, who competed with Farnsworth on A for the past two years. In 2016, the Chicago Cubs broke a 108 year drought and won the World Series. Can Farnsworth do the same? Somehow we don’t care. Because here, finally, is where Sam Farnswoth is different from the Cubs. For years, he’s been a mainstay of AMTA. His nationals streak is a perfect four-for-four. He’s been to the final round. And so on this, his last weekend to play the game, it doesn’t really matter whether he wins or loses. Semis or not, final or not, Sam Farnsworth will give us the same vintage performance that for the past four years has defined his career. He always does. Let’s play ball.


Jonathan Hubbard, The Ohio State University (Second Chair: Michael Ragnone, Coach: Kendall Beard):

One thing about decorated witness, decorated attorney, and remarkable personality Jonathan Hubbard: whether he’s winning or losing, not a single person watching him perform this weekend will be bored. For Hubbard, that’s truly what mock trial is: a performance. Anybody who has seen him near-run across the well in the middle of an opening statement or mime a gesture on cross knows that his sheer dynamism allows him to get away with a whole lot more drama than some of the other competitors in this field. Hubbard has cut his teeth against the best competitors across the country, and now he’s coming to LA for the cherry on top. Here’s the problem: this is TBC, and that won’t be enough to succeed here in the den of the Bruins.

Hubbard shines when he has an engaging witness to feed off of on cross, which he likely won’t face in all of his rounds. However, if he has the opportunity to really get going against a defendant or a plaintiff’s witness vying for the engagement check, trust and believe he’ll bring more character to the cross than the character does. Cross, however, probably isn’t what you remember Hubbard for if you’ve faced him in-round. His talent for opening is rivaled by only a few competitors in the whole country. Problem is, they’re all in this field, and this writer sure as hell doesn’t envy the judges who’ll have to decide between Hubbard and Jones, or Hubbard and Veglahn, on the opening check. Hubbard has the potential to be more polarizing than some of the less dramatic attorneys, so some of this will come down to the LA judging pool’s preferences.

So that’s all well and good. Hubbard is immensely talented (this writer might even call herself a fan), but the truth is his talent might not be enough to end up on top in LA. Awards are a notoriously poor metric of talent in mock trial, but it’s worth mentioning that Hubbard’s count, at 8, is in the bottom five of the field. (He also doesn’t have an All-American, like some of the lower count competitors do). Three of those pieces of hardware, including one of his All-Nationals, are from witnessing. He hasn’t quite got the laundry list on the attorney side that Debnath, Vanderslice, and Jones bring to the courtroom. More important than awards (fickle metric that they are), is Hubbard’s lack of experience with the short-prep format. While Ohio State’s tremendous success at NCT this year still looms large in our minds, the month-long NCT prep is an eternity in comparison to TBC’s 24 hours. OSU has sent competitors to the field before, but neither Michael Ragnone, Hubbard’s second chair, nor Kendall Beard, his coach, have competed in the format, so this squad doesn’t have the veteran knowledge that other teams bring to the table.

If they can conquer the short-prep, Ragnone and Beard will be formidable right and left hand men for Hubbard in LA. Ragnone comes in as an immensely talented writer and closer, and he’s sure to round out Hubbard’s less experienced areas. They have significant time working together, too: Ragnone is used to writing closings to Hubbard’s openings, so their stylistic flair won’t require much practice to blend well. Beard has experience with Justin Bernstein from the 2020 online opening statement competition (where his defense opening was nearly as good as his stylish red polo shirt), but his time spent coaching Ohio State A  is probably more notable for the purposes of this writeup. We expect these three to hit the ground running as a team.

All in all, Hubbard and the Buckeye Boys have got a mountain to climb in terms of mastering this format at the level of those who have played this game before. But if they manage it? With Hubbard’s sheer talent, the sky’s the limit. God have mercy on those who pair against him playing his A game.

Josiah Jones, UC Irvine (Second Chair:  Dylan Darwish, Coach: Emily Shaw):

We’ve never had a returning champion at TBC. Rarely do people attend more than once (we can count the number of competitors with two appearances on two hands, and Harper and Gaskins remain the elite few having three apiece). Irvine’s Josiah Jones enters this field as one of the closest we’ve ever seen: one checkmark on one ballot in the final round away from being a returning champion. If there’s one mocker our aspiring sword-collectors should be afraid of, it’s him. Here’s why:

At 24 awards, Josiah Jones has the most individual awards of any competitor at TBC this year. He has 20 attorney awards (two of which are All-Americans), the most of any competitor in this field. He also has the second most witness awards of anyone who’ll be in Los Angeles, with 4. We cannot stress enough that this is an insane amount of a lead. To top off his experience, there’s also no question that Jones is one of the most versatile competitors here. Jones both opened and closed at the NCT level, and his witness is well-awarded as well.

That metric is especially exceptional when you consider where Jones did it. Like any forgotten middle knows, awards depend as much on your bench as they do on your performance (we’re sorry forgotten middles, and we love you). This means that the best competitor on a bad team can award with relative ease–and Jones’ massive award count would mean one thing if he was from a weaker team. But Irvine Mock Trial? “Weak” is a factual inaccuracy and even “pretty good” is an understatement. They’re ranked eighth in the nation. They went undefeated at LA ORCS. They’re on a five-year streak of qualifying for NCT. Zot freaking zot. All this to say, Jones is awarding consistently on a very, very good team. That will be helpful for him in Los Angeles. Jones brings the same dream team that brought him to triumph in Chi Town: Dylan Darwish and Emily Shaw. Darwish is Jones’ mock ‘other half,’ and he’ll be making sure the last mock they do together (at least until three weeks later when Darwish appears at Gauntlet) is a swan song fitting for both careers. Shaw is Irvine’s long time A team coach, coaching them to a trophy more often than not. This team worked together last year for success and we expect the same this year.

For any other competitor, this much space spent singing their praises would give them their due. But Jones leaves us with more to say. Because beyond being one of the most awarded, beyond being one of the most versatile, beyond being part of that oh-so-exclusive list of TBC returners, Josiah Jones is not just any returner: he’s a former finalist. Because we base these things on more than just awards (for our MTC critics’ reference), this contributor went back and watched the final trial from last year to try to treat you to some third-rate analysis of what went wrong for Josiah and what, if anything, 2024’s mockers could hope to seize on…. and we couldn’t. This trial was nail-bitingly close. Razor-sharp arguments. Crystal-clear exams. Dynamic performance. This round is the example for how to do TBC to a T (pun intended). The only tiny thing we could find is that Josiah stuttered like, four times. It was anyone’s game, demonstrated by the tight margins. A nudge in the other direction would have given TBC 2024 its first returning champion.

Of course we do have to give this disclaimer: no resume or history can make Jones’ outcome this weekend a certainty. He’ll have to claw his way back to the final one ballot at a time. But that’s something he’s done before. At the end of the day, we’d say there’s a strong chance that Josiah’s coming home with a sword in the trunk of his car. He’s out for a much-deserved victory. Win or lose, we’re sure his final weekend in those courtrooms will be nothing short of spectacular.

Jackson Kunde, Wisconsin, Madison (Second Chair: Lauren Stoneman, Coach: Kate Hayner-Slattery):

Jackson Kunde has two All-Americans. Jackson Kunde has also failed to bid from Regionals two years in a row. Those are facts, and as President John Adams and also the closer in the 2003 final round once said, facts are stubborn things. His freshman year, Jackson Kunde went to Nationals in Lancaster as part of one the best feel-good mock trial stories in recent memory: an unstacked team with a triple-digit TPR that surged to NCT. He won his first All-American and his team threw a fantastic party. Last year, that same team failed to bid out of Regionals. Wisconsin shuffled their teams around, and Kunde went with the B team (which did bid) where he proceeded to carve through St. Paul ORCS and a Chicago A team like butter. At Nationals in 2023, he won his second All-American. Then, at the TBC play-in tournament, we all know what happened: he had a strong first half in the final trial, and then ran into the buzzsaw that was last year’s fourth place finisher at Trial by Combat– Michael Chandler. This year, Kunde’s team once again failed to bid from Regionals and his season ended in February. But he’s here at Trial by Combat anyway.

Why? Because Jackson Kunde is an astoundingly talented competitor. In terms of his personal style, Kunde was trained to play an up-tempo West Coast style of mock trial during his high school mock trial days in California. Highly presentational, bombastic, California-charm, and gladiatorial (pun intended) aggression. Since arriving in Wisconsin, his performance has mellowed out a bit, and his courtroom persona has taken on some of the hallmarks of Midwestern mock trial. He tends to be more soft-spoken and mild mannered during more aspects of trial than he used to, but that California fire still sneaks through on cross-examination. Picture Kunde with the sincere, earnest demeanor of a Milwaukee prosecutor–and then imagine that prosecutor is out for blood whenever he steps into the well for cross examination. As for the technical aspects of this activity, Kunde has talent there in spades as well. He is light on his feet with the rules of evidence and has a great facility for some of the meta aspects of this activity, like theory and structure. Along with Josiah Jones and Vanderslice, Kunde is one of the only attorneys in the field whose game is truly complete, and he will be a very, very tough out.

His second chair is Lauren Stoneman and his coach is Kate Hayner-Slattery. Stoneman is highly awarded in her own right, with a 20-rank All-National award as the biggest feather in her cap. She usually closes for Kunde, and her experience as a writer and performer will surely help on preparation day. Once upon a time, in ye olden days, Hayner-Slattery was the best prosecution opener in the country. Now, she is a tab room fixture nationwide, as necessary to the proper function of a top-tier invitational as the tab cards, the ballots, and the judges. Another President, Richard Nixon, told assembled White House staff at his resignation that only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. We’ll see how high Jackson Kunde can climb next weekend.

Ethan Marx, Virginia (Second Chair: Annabelle Claypoole, Coach: Yashita Keswani):

This past May, something happened that shocked Americans across the country–an event that dashed hopes and dreams, shook fans and skeptics alike to their core. No, dear readers, we’re not talking about the conviction of former President Donald Trump. We’re talking about the drop of passionate popener Karen Sun from the field of 2024’s Trial By Combat.

But fear not! Because we here at Mock Analysis Is My Drug were completely prepared for such a development, and have adapted our write up nearly as much as UVA adapts their script templates to insert the facts of a new case . Behold, our cutting-edge analysis of Sun’s replacement, her co-counsel and Captain, Ethan Marx.

Sun Marx has been playing in the big leagues for years now, joining the Cavalier’s A team back in her sophomore year in 2021 his freshman year in 2022, where she shone as an expert despite the team’s disappointing finish. he eventually got demoted to B team for the Lancaster NCT, leading them to a podium placement and earning himself an All-American to boot. Sun Marx has spent her his career giving captivating opening statements matter-of-fact, authentic closing arguments that are reminiscent of an Atticus Finch style Defense Attorney. Sun’s Marx’s exceptional performance has earned her him an impressive trophy cabinet, including a double attorney award at South Carolina’s Soda City Classic a 31 rank Attorney award at GAMTI and a 17 rank All-National this past season–not to mention the All-American she he picked up this April as part of winning a little something called the Richard Calkins trophy.  As always, Sun Marx’s greatest weakness is her his dynastic program’s greatest strength: responsiveness. Even the greatest content production machine in the world can’t anticipate everything, and for a competitor like Sun Marx who’s spent the majority of her his time on A with a clear path set ahead for each and every possibility, it’s all the more jarring to suddenly fly blind. Sun Marx will bring the support staff of Ethan Marx  Yashita Keswani and newly minted All-American Anabelle Claypoole, who are both former members of UVA’s undefeated ORCS B team. The only 24 hour prep experience this team has is Marx’s previous stint as James “Big Dog’ Orr’s time as second chair, so that could be an issue for them this weekend.

Not responsive enough? Should we have picked up a legal pad? Alright alright, we’ll drop the bit. Our clever formatting gimmick can’t illustrate the biggest difference between the two that readers everywhere should be watching for. In terms of their greatest virtues, Sun’s a performer and Marx is a content writer. That’s not to say that the two don’t have talents in in both–Marx, after all, is a two-time All-American so by no stretch of the imagination could he be called a bad performer, and we imagine Sun’s written more than her fair share of top-notch opening statements–but the tell here is in their history in leadership. Marx has never captained a team at Nationals that hasn’t placed, and he’s also never not captained a team for NCT. Almost no one in the nation can compare to that. That consistent of a resume means he’s had his hand in every piece of diabolically crafted Virginia content that’s been on the circuit the past few years. If Sun’s the soloist, Marx is conducting the orchestra. That should scare you.

And what should scare you more is Marx’s history. Those who are skeptical of Marx’s prospects based on a played-out joke should remember that Marx’s history with lawyer cosplay actually goes back much further than just undergraduate mock trial–that back in high school he was a MockOn Champion slash Gladiator Champion. And back then one of his greatest talents was his quick thinking on his feet and responsiveness. Granted, times have changed and Marx now plays some safer strategies, but it’s a good sign Marx might have the extra skill set that usually keeps Virginia competitors from a TBC final. So keep your eyes on Marx. He may have been the last add to the field, but we think he’ll be a contender for those check marx (yes, we’ve had that joke prepared for a while now).

Devika Narendra, Oregon (Second Chair: Jonni Winn, Coach: Rohan Menon):

Looking around at the year’s TBC field, a name like Devika Narendra’s is refreshing. Out of our sixteen LA bound competitors, twelve are either from returning programs or are returning competitors themselves. That fact is what make’s Nerendra’s appearance in this year’s field so interesting. At face value it's natural to underestimate someone in her shoes – a junior from a program like Oregon's with reasonable success but scarce Nationals appearances –  however, like a proverbial “ugly duckling” (get it, because Oregon’s mascot is a duck) she showed everybody that remarkable talent can be found in places we sometimes overlook. Narendra is indeed a swan, a charismatic powerhouse, and a force to be reckoned with.

Narendra’s style has proven to be one that can produce results. Her natural magnetism means doesn’t need to say much to catch and keep a jury’s attention. Narendra's ability to react to tricky experts turns her crosses into quicksand, where the more they fight the worse off they look. She speaks with a confidence that is persuasive without being overpowering, and brings with her a natural charm that is sure to come in handy along the West Coast.

But most importantly, Narendra is smart. Every decision she makes, from her choice of words to her movement, is done with a purpose. These skills were put on display the most during this year’s play-in back in April. Besides her strong performance in the play-ins which earned her a spot in this year’s competition, she’s also accumulated 11 individual awards throughout her three year career. With many of these awards being won at tournaments along the West Coast, which could potentially bode very well with this year’s LA judging pool. Looking closer at her resume, it’s clear that while she isn’t the most experienced competitor out of this year’s field, she isn’t a complete stranger to having to work on a case with short notice. This year, Oregon tackled its first Nationals case in 8 years, and Narendra placed as the highest ranking All-American attorney in the Bradwell division. Looking back even further, you’ll find that she had great success in the last two Rookie Rumble tournaments, partially explaining the finesse she demonstrated over Zoom.

But forming a case in a month pales in comparison to the work needed to succeed in a competition like TBC, and besides her experience preparing for the play-ins, Narendra is coming in at a disadvantage compared to all the returners. Narendra’s resume also tells us nothing about her capabilities as a witness. Out of her 11 career awards, all 11 are from her work as an attorney. This raises some red flags, and makes her a bit of a wild card when it comes to scoring those much needed witnessing check marks that can make or break a TBC run. Oregon as a program has proven to have plenty of resounding witnessing talent, but whether Narendra has the same skills as her teammates is something that is up in the air.

While we think Narendra’s natural charm and clean presentation will carry her far in LA, as a fresh face at TBC— and being the first Duck to ever be selected— we’re worried her and her program’s lack of experience could keep her from making it to the top. Joining her in LA will be her second chair Jonni Winn and coach Rohan Menon – both undergraduates who shared a bench with Narendra on Oregon A this year, which means they know her best, but they might not know TBC best. Winn is a freshman who’s experience opening should bring some good versatility to the team that will compliment Narendra’s strong closing abilities. Menon co-captained with Narendra and helped lead the Ducks back to the National stage. Menon is technical and precise and we expect his clean, surgical style to help balance out some of Narendra’s more dramatic, flashy performances. We worry in a field where some are bringing coaches with swords of their own, Narendra’s fresh-faced squad might struggle to compare. But if Devika and her Ducks have taught us anything this season it’s that we shouldn’t underestimate them. Good luck to Narendra on her first outing at TBC.  


Everett Parker-Noblitt, Yale (Second Chair: Luke McLaughlin, Coach: Henry Jones):

On April 23rd, 1985, Coca-Cola released “New Coke.”  This new formula, meant to replace the world’s most popular, iconic, and successful soda, was met with such immediate and intense backlash that a mere 79 days later the original formula was reinstated, leaving “New Coke” to be remembered as one of the most infamous marketing disasters of all time.

On a completely unrelated note, in 2022 we saw the debut of what many now call “New Yale.” While this new team contained some old favorites like 2021 final round opener Sara Campbell, they play a new style. A safer style. This New Yale came to be defined by a new name, or rather three— Everett Parker-Noblitt. From his freshmen days opening on that A team, to his now All-American closing spot, EPN has ostensibly become the face of Yale’s new wave. So naturally, as the latest entry into Yale’s Eras Tour it comes as no surprise that Parker-Noblitt is set to join the pantheon of Bays, Gross, Love, and Campbell on the TBC stage.

Like the introduction of New Coke, New Yale has not been without its drawbacks. In EPN’s residency, we have seen Yale slowly slip from their previous glory. Certainly their recent top 10 NCT finishes are impressive, but going from 6 straight final rounds to 3rd, 5th, and finally your A team failing to bid at all is an undeniable down turn. But TBC is not Nationals, and even if it were, Everett’s ability to join this past year’s B team post-ORCS and helm them to a 6th place finish speaks to his own individual talent. A talent which may be the most fine-tuned to this year’s TBC. EPN is arguably the field’s most similar competitor to Ben Crosby who broke records with this same LA judge pool in 2022.

He has a natural talent for capturing attention, blending charisma with that trademark Yale legal acumen. Whether delivering a masterfully written closing or cross-examining a witness with precision, Parker-Noblitt's courtroom performances are nothing short of captivating. He maintains control without being rigid, ensuring his presentations are always engaging and never boring. Parker-Noblitt is a dynamic and notably adaptive presence in the courtroom. His style is at times surprisingly reminiscent of the classic Yale flair—performative and flashy—yet he infuses it with their modern “color inside the lines” approach.

Joining EPN in LA will be his fellow teammates Luke McLaughlin and Henry Jones. While the three combined suggest a cohesive team, they are suspiciously inexperienced. McLaughlin is coming off of just one year of AMTA experience (albeit on Yale’s A team) while Jones was notably absent from the season this year despite previously captaining. McLaughlin is not entirely green to the 1v1 format given his Gladiator days, but it is strange that Yale, a school tied with UVA and Chicago for the most TBC appearances at 6, will be entering the weekend with little experience to pull from.

Today, “New Coke” is largely remembered by the zeitgeist as a failure. In reality, it was anything but. Sure the new formulation wasn’t a knockout success, but it developed a cult following that allowed it to last on shelves for 17 years, and perhaps more importantly, it ushered in a new wave of excitement and appreciation for the old formula. This weekend will give a chance to know if Coca-Cola’s 80’s marketing ploy truly is prescient for a mock trial program in 2024. Because when it’s just EPN in the well, we will get to see if he really took the cocaine out of old Yale’s Coke, and if that’s precisely what the TBC recipe calls for.

Charlie Stock, Notre Dame (Second Chair: Nolan Reddy, Coach: Stephen Douglas Johnson II):

After four long years, we here at Stock Analysis is Our Drug have come to the precipice of a heartbreaking goodbye – after this writeup, there will be no more (significantly fewer) puns on the word “stock.” It’s going to make our job as writers without the ability to discern the location of the state of Colorado significantly more difficult. So, before that, let’s introduce him one final time as he approaches his last collegiate mock trial tournament.

Charlie Stock, the now-graduated former captain of Notre Dame A, enters his third run at TBC having undergone one of the most crushing ORCS finishes in recent memory. Fresh off a run to 9th at the National Championship, Notre Dame and Stock cruised through this year’s regionals only to run smack into a Dayton sweep and a nauseating split to Case Western A at ORCS, ending Stock’s senior season at the riverside Geneva ORCS awards ceremony. If there’s one thing we know about Stock, however, it’s that he uses failure as fuel. He will walk into Los Angeles ready to take on anyone who is paired with him, knowing it will be his last shot to win the big one. Stock is thorough, aggressive, and has a passion for delivering well-scripted openings followed by impeccably improvised closing arguments. If you’re competing and your plan is to out-charisma him, good luck – the public speaking part of this activity is where Stock shines.

While Stock is an engaging competitor, his tournament prospects become even more interesting when you “look a little closer.” Stock, evidently unhappy with last year’s TBC performance, scrapped his entire previous support squad, replacing coach Henry Leaman with TBC champion Stephen Douglas Johnson II and naming Nolan Reddy as his second chair. This is a fascinating pairing – Reddy’s style is incredibly similar to Johnson’s, but his content writing abilities are a virtual unknown as he did not feature on ND’s A Team roster in the fall before moving up for Regionals and ORCS. Johnson, however, is a proven commodity with a sword to prove it. The question is whether he will be able to help overcome the things that might make Stock polarizing to some judges – his confrontational crosses, argumentative questions, and verbosity while witnessing will be things Johnson needs to pay attention to if his Texan mock prodigy wants to compete at the top level of this tournament. Most importantly, Johnson may have to prepare Stock for the level of competition he will face. If you look at the numbers (and we always do), Stock’s Notre Dame A Team had a fairly easy AMTA season:  a CS of 11 at regionals, followed by 14 at the ORCS they didn’t bid from. There won’t be any easy rounds in Los Angeles, and no Nationals means Stock’s last competitive round was against the freshmen of Case Western A. One way or another, we’re looking forward to one final tournament filled with Stock market speculation – and we’re excited to see whether or not SDJ2 ends up subbing himself in and competing in the final one more time.

Audrey Vanderslice, Harvard (Second Chair: Jessica Alexander, Coach: Travis Harper):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNNO3UisPjg

It’s August 22, 2014, and Audrey Vanderslice steps out onto a stage. Millions of people hold their breath in the anticipation of the performance to come. The crowd grows silent as she approaches the center of the stage. The setting is a mid-2000s Chinese game show, and like anything else on her six-page resume, we know that Audrey is there to win. Except, that fateful day, this was a simpler Audrey. An Audrey before the ‘Slice that those 15 competitors fear today. And that day, destiny dictated that she lost. Odysseus had the Trojan War. Batman had his parents killed. But for Audrey that was one loss too many. The catalyst for the hero/villain (depending on your side of the bench) story that would follow the next 10 years. The catalyst for the hero/villain story that would culminate, not on the stage of 汉字英雄第3季, but in the Capello Courtroom of UCLA Law.

And like anything we’ve ever written, that, dear reader, is 100% true.

This team has 12 All-Americans, 2 final round appearances, and 1 TBC win under their belt. Vanderslice alone has 5 All-Americans—tied for the most in TBC history. And who is she tied with? Well, one of those people is none other than her coach, former TBC winner Travis Harper. Dynasty, anyone? The hardware is certainly there to show for it. Vanderslice has been a circuit stalwart since her freshman year Nationals run. Or her sophomore year Nationals win. Or her junior year Nationals final round. Or her senior year… you get the point. And she’s no exception—with her are two other Harvard star A-teamers: Jessica Alexander and Travis Harper. Alexander captained this year’s A to solid success, grabbing an All-National along the way, and marking her fourth year on A the team. Harper, a year since graduated, has been hard at work helping build Columbia Mock Trial. This year they went to Nationals for the first time in 5 years. So yeah. Lots of All Americans, lots of final round appearances. Any of them alone would be a formidable opponent. But what kind of opponent? In terms of style, Harvard is known for dynamic East Coast mock trial. They go big, write smart, and play creative. In New York and Boston they leave few standing. But in LA, time will tell how that style will hold. No one has any doubt Vanderslice can play polished, but TBC is a different field. Scoring the trials will be mostly former big-name mockers, most of whom have law school trial advocacy experience. Will these alums score for the dramatic? Or will they side with the more traditional law school “IRL lawyer” style? Perhaps it would be more of a question if Travis Harper, one of the most performative on the team, didn’t just win last year. Still, Harvard could suffer at the hand of the law-school-coded judge who awards dry realism.

Regardless, this is not a team that’s going to be comfortable without a win. And for Vanderslice, who’s spent the past 10 years reaching for more, this is not going to be another 2014. The day marked in infamy, the day 20 awards couldn’t bury, shall persist no longer. Because TBC is not the Chinese character for “yak hair.” TBC is a mock trial competition. And that is something Vanderslice will not lose.


Margaret Veglahn, Tufts (Second Chair: Ian Carson, Coach: Bennett Demsky):

Here’s a law of nature: for every Nick Ramos, there’s a Lindsey China. For every Dan Stern, a Sarah Cohen. No man is an island and no mocker, not even the greatest, can reach the highest level without a support team that’s set up to both let them shine and offset the cost when they don’t. Put simply, the competitors that tend to get the most individual acclaim are the ones with a roster behind them who clean up on the parts of the activity that get a hell of a lot less glory—the people who are willing to get 8s and 9s so the 10s or 2s competitors can get 2s, the people whose job it is to take the thankless roles and perform them with 0 mistakes. Enter Margaret Veglahn. Her freshman year, she middled during Tufts’ breakout online run to a second place division finish. Her sophomore year, she opened for the Jumbos’ attempted revenge run to the title. These last two years she has stepped in as the leader of the team. While her time truly in the sun—double opening the A team her junior and senior year—has coincided with Tufts’ Icarus-esque fall from grace, it hasn’t been because Veglahn suddenly stopped putting up consistently impressive performances.

Veglahn is a competitor who has always, always understood her role and grown into a mocker who can fulfill it lethally. These last few years, she has developed into more of a star, with greater range and control on cross examination—but her high level experience from her younger years give her the skills to competently handle things other, flashier, competitors would flub. She will without fail be liked by every judge in the courtroom, every round, on every part. It’s a performative niche that comes with a very intentional sacrifice—you’ll notice she doesn’t have the award count of some of her East Coast colleagues like Vanderslice or Volpert, or the adoration and fanbase of her predecessors like Demsky—but it does mean that in a format like this, she is quite tough to beat, because to outscore her anywhere, you need to take a risk that pays off. All in all, it will be hard to beat Veglahn this weekend and hard to imagine a world where she’s not finishing with a placement come Sunday afternoon.

Veglahn will be joined in Los Angeles by Ian Carson and Bennett Demsky, the same team she brought last year. Carson is an interesting choice given that he spent this past spring coaching Tufts’ B team. Demsky is now a TBC mainstay, having fulfilled every role available at the competition. We will see if he can break his streak of slightly disappointing finishes.

Of course, that glowing review can’t be unconditional (we’re MAIMD, after all). Veglahn is one of only four competitors in this field who wasn’t in Chicago this Spring, and her team hasn’t seen too much success these last few years. But we’ve got our chips on Veglahn this July because our memories go back pretty far. It wasn’t too long ago that we remember seeing another underrated career opener whose time on her program’s A team coincided with their return to high-level NCT placement, another opener who shared benches with a polarizing, aggressive, and ostentatious closer, another opener who we saw reason to doubt the chances of against the more attention-grabbing competitors in her field. And Sonali Mehta beat one of the most dominant competitors of all time in an equally dominant fashion. For every Demsky there’s a Veglahn, and for every Malhotra there’s a Mehta—but more often than not, it’s the calm, cool, and clean competitors who shine under the bright lights when Bernstein brings together the best of the best.


Katie Volpert, Penn (Second Chair: Matt Fleischer, Coach: Nick Hamilton):

Volpert thrives on the big stage. She has 2 All-Nationals, 4 All-Regionals, a Rookie Rumble championship and most recently won the Play-In to punch her ticket to sunny Los Angeles. As with any competitor, we wonder how her storied individual success will translate to the 24 hour prep, but the Play-In gave us a taste of what Volpert can do in the round with a hell of a lot less time to get ready to do it. When Volpert was on, she was a superstar. Great rhetoric, powerful crosses, creative and well thought out objections.

We also saw the effects of a 24 hour prep period. Whether it was accidentally setting off her balloons, forgetting she didn’t have a party representative, or saying the wrong burden, we saw a few mistakes that we know we’d just never see from her were she given just a little more time to finalize and streamline. More importantly, we also saw how she responded to those errors. We discuss a lot TBC competitors’ ability to not make mistakes, but in this format being flawless ist just as much of a virtue as recovering well from your flaws. When we saw Volpert do that in the play in, we thought that was another good sign for her–she was always professional and calm when she did. The question going into TBC for Volpert will be if she’s able to limit those mistakes, keep up her clean recoveries, and not let them detract from what she does best.  

Stylistically, Volpert is potentially one of the best in the field at objections and is one of the few openers in the field. She’s conversational, confident and plays a very realistic style. Last time TBC was in LA, Ben Crosby won on those very same principles. But surrounding him in the semifinals were all attorneys known for their flash. Lakkaraju and Harper specifically are two of the flashiest attorneys TBC has seen, and they placed second and third respectively. While other competitors will stand out with their creative cross pockets, movements during statements, or use of exhibits, Volpert will stand out on her objections, theory and rhetoric.

Volpert’s choice for coach is her former teammate and first year coach Nick Hamilton. Hamilton and Volpert have worked closely as benchmates and now in a coach/competitor capacity and he has a few awards of his own so we expect the two of them to work closely together. Volpert’s choice for second chair raised a few eyebrows. She will be joined by rising senior Matt Fleischer. Fleischer did not join Volpert at the play in so it’s an interesting choice to switch your team from Play-In to TBC. But to be honest, we don’t know much about Fleischer, so we had to turn to Instagram to find out more information and to our surprise…. we found nothing. It doesn’t look like he competed in Chicago with Volpert. It doesn’t look like he was on Volpert’s Regionals or ORCS team. And that’s pretty significant because this year Penn was a one-team program. So if he wasn’t on her team, he wasn’t on ANY team, or at least not one that competed at AMTA tournaments. While that doesn’t mean Volpert will necessarily be weak, it does mean that her content writing team runs the risk of being especially green, and get caught up in the traps Bernstien likes to put in his fact patterns. But Penn and Volpert fans alike should fear not–since she burst onto the scene in 2022’s Rookie Rumble, Volpert has proved she rises to the occasion as an underdog. We’ll see if she does the same in LA.

Bryan Walker, Georgia (Second Chair: Katie Gilk, Coach: Justin Xu):

It’s a cold day in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Georgia is on a tear. They head back to Athens with a 3rd place trophy and two All-Americans. Now those familiar with the ‘22 Bulldogs might expect that attorney to be either half of the tandem of Xu and McDonald, but instead it was the young buck: Bryan Walker. Since 2022, Walker has become a household name, with the 2023-24 season serving as no outlier. Walker brought home 5 attorney awards, including an All-National and a Great Chicago Fire award. Not to mention that Walker went to Philadelphia last summer, continued his hot streak there, and came home with 6th place at Trial By Combat. That placement puts Walker among an elite three in this field–while there are quite a few returners who’ll be booking plane tickets through LAX this June, only Jones, Farnsworth, and Walker can come into TBC saying they know how to win because they’ve done it before.

Stylistically, Walker is an incredible competitor known for his outlandish theories, dramatic crosses, and most importantly, storytelling. He can make any cross feel important and paint the defendant as either an innocent bystander, or the dirtiest criminal on the planet. It’s perhaps the greatest strength one can have in this activity, and especially persuasive in a one on one format where a single attorney has the chance to link every piece together. This storytelling, paired with a signature southern charm have made Walker appealing to every judge he has encountered.

The only twist? He’s never been out West. While there is a certain degree of universality that should be expected from competitors and judging alike, there certainly have been smaller things than judging preferences that have thrown a wrench in someone’s day. All of the data on Walker and, for that matter, all his Georgian counterparts, is restricted to the East Coast, with Chicago being the only time he’s even crossed the Mississippi. While we still expect Walker to have a strong showing, Los Angeles is uncharted waters for the Bulldogs.

Speaking of Walker’s counterparts, he is joined by second chair Katie Gilk, perhaps the most underrated competitor in the South. While Gilk did not bring home any personal hardware this last year, she certainly was the perfect complement to Walker in a crowded South. The two managed a near perfect record at Regionals and ORCS, only dropping one ballot to Kentucky, and set themselves up for a fourth round showdown with eventual division winner Hillsdale at the Chicago NCT tournament.  They are joined by Walker’s former teammate Justin Xu. Xu will bring precision and intense legal preparation to the already formidable duo as a rising 2L at Harvard Law School. These three served as Georgia’s bench for all of the 2023 competitive season (boasting a record of 42-18 and a winning percentage of 70%), with Gilk and Walker making up two thirds of the bench this past spring. The trio is reuniting in Los Angeles to try and bring home more hardware to add to Georgia’s ever growing trophy cabinet. Understanding that this is a great competitor and a great team, the question remains: will the Bulldogs’ style work out West, or will Walker fall short of the sword?

Lyla Zedell, Georgia Tech (Second Chair: Maya Iyer, Coach: Will Warihay):
“Hiya, Maya!”

“Hi, Lyla!”
“You wanna go for a ride?”
“Sure, Maya!”
“Jump in!”
Lyla Zedell is our Barbie girl in a mock trial word. Why? Because She. Is. Everything.
No, seriously, she is. Couple 15 individual awards with a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech, and you’ve got a deadly combination in the form of Lyla Zedell. Zedell is one of the most versatile competitors in the circuit, having awarded as an opener, a closer, a character, and an expert. She is tied with Vanderslice as having the most witness awards in the field and is one of only two competitors to have earned an All-American witness award. Her success as a witness comes primarily from her New York character, which is just funny enough to win over judges without going into the realm of absurdity. If the case has a character witness, Zedell will be at a massive advantage.

But, don’t be fooled by all our talk of Lyla’s witnessing. To win TBC, you have to be a good attorney, and in Zedell’s case, the numbers speak for themselves. Her career as an attorney started out opening and middling next to super senior closers, but she truly hit her stride once she began closing. Zedell went to 6 tournaments this past season and walked away with 5 attorney awards, 3 of which were 20 ranks. She finished off her season with an All-American attorney award, something no one was surprised by.

Zedell’s style as an attorney has evolved over the years. Early in her career, Zedell was an aggressive crosser and speech-giver, but she began leaning heavily into performance in the 2023-24 season, adopting a more composed approach. Regardless of whether Zedell leans into performance or command, there are two words that will always appear under her name on ballots: confident and persuasive. Zedell has incredible rhetoric, which compliments the highly technical cases Georgia Tech typically puts on. Whenever you see a P closer glowering in the hallway after a round in the Southeast, there’s probably a 60% chance that they just finished a faceoff with Zedell and got stomped by her stilettos in the process.

Zedell can out-perform, out-charisma, and out-strut almost anyone else in the field, but if she’s put up against a Farnsworth or a Veglahn, she might run into difficulties winning objection battles. She can certainly hold her own in most rounds, but she is not as adept at technical matters as some of her fellow competitors, and when presented with an incredibly short preparation window, this disparity can be amplified. Even the smallest errors like getting sped up or tripping over your words during objections have determined the outcomes of past rounds, so Zedell will have to work on a crisp responsiveness to take the check marks of both drama-loving and technical judges.

Zedell’s second chair is her 2024 A Team co-captain, Maya Iyer, a 2-time All-National attorney and seasoned P closer. Iyer, equipped with a Computer Science degree and 5 awards in this past season alone, brings the heat in the courtroom with aggressive crosses and a commanding presence. Iyer’s style compliment’s Zedell’s well, and it’s clear they know how to work together in high stakes scenarios. Zedell and Iyer have been competing on the same teams since their sophomore year, and they led Georgia Tech A to a Nationals bid in 2024 as co-captains.

And Zedell’s coach? Well, he’s just Will.

With all that being said,

Come on, Lyla, let’s go party.


When possible, these numbers were taken from the website of each competitors’ respective team. When these records were unavailable, we used publicly-available AMTA tab summaries. If we missed any awards, we invite any competitor to message us or post below with a list of individual awards and we will update the table.

Competitor	Awards	Attorney	Witness	All American
Baugh	3	3	0	0
Davidson	9	8	1	0
Debnath	15	14	1	2
Farnsworth	10	9	1	1
Hubbard	8	5	3	0
Jones	24	20	4	2
Kunde	10	10	0	2
Marx	7	7	0	2
Narendra	11	11	0	1
Stock	17	13	4	1
Parker-Noblitt	9	7	2	1
Vanderslice	20	14	6	5
Veglahn	10	10	0	0
Volpert	15	15	0	0
Walker	15	10	0	1
Zedell	15	9	6	2