Mock Trial in Seattle

I went to Seattle for a Mock Trial tournament from Wednesday, 2/25 through Sunday, 3/1. Along with my coach and teammates, I participated in the American Association of Justice (AAJ) regional mock trial tournament at the King County Courthouse in Downtown Seattle.

Wayne Law AAJ Team (minus myself)

The competition was from Friday through Sunday, and it was an intense couple of days. Though we have not yet received our results, we suspect that the team won two rounds and lost one. We wanted to go undefeated, but obviously, we could have done much worse.

We argued a civil premises liability/wrongful death case. The case can be summed up like this: guy has shady business connections; guy goes on vacation with wife; guy goes to hotel prior to catching his flight; hotel has bad security system; guy is robbed and shot “execution style” (once in the back of the head) after a struggle in the parking lot. Widow sues hotel and the parties fail to settle.

It was a pretty tough case for both sides – lawyers that heard our arguments before we left agreed that they would not “sign the case up” with their firm, given the facts and the decedent’s association with organized crime. We, however, did not have that option.

I also got a chance to get out and see the Seattle area, and was pleasantly surprised. It was (relatively) warm, and did not rain cats and dogs constantly, like I thought it would. When it did rain, it was light and consistent. Sunday was 50ºF and rainy. I was surprised by the number of people staying active on what I thought was a dreary day. There were at least ten sailboats out on Lake Washington. The University of Washington softball team was playing Boise State, the fans in slickers and umbrellas. People were even playing tennis on campus! For as active as everyone seemed, my friend – a Washington resident/Michigan expat. – was less optimistic about the Western Washington weather – he is planning on moving to Virginia come summer. He has spent four years in the Seattle area, and the seven months of mostly clouds and rain got to him.

Lake Washington - 3/1/2009

For me, the dreary weather was mitigated by the the overflowing coffee. It was everywhere. The good stuff, too. It seemed that there were baristas on every corner – and not just Starbucks (which originates from Seattle). For me, and with that amount of coffee, the city could have been in a constant state of freezing ice blizzard, and I still would have found it pleasant and productive.