Cornell's mock trial team took first place in the Ivy League Invitational Mock Trial Tournament at Yale University on Nov. 13 and 14, beating a team from archrival Princeton in the fifth and final round. The students were up against 12 teams from such universities as Brown, Holy Cross, Johns Hopkins, St. Bonaventure and Yale.

In addition Cornell team members placed well in the invitational's two other competitions: outstanding attorney (ILR sophomore Keith Becker was ranked third) and best witness (ILR junior Alissa Grad was ranked fourth).

"The victory was great for us," said Grad, who is president of Cornell's Pre-Law Society, the undergraduate student organization that manages the team. "The hardest teams to beat are the ones in our class."

All competing teams were sent the details of the same case in advance of the invitational. "This year's case involved a wrongful death civil suit about a person who died in a plane crash," explained Grad. "The surviving spouse and family sued the company that made the plane's fuel gauge and asked for both punitive and compensatory damages -- which unfortunately is usual in these cases. I played on both the prosecution and the defense -- some witnesses are prepared for both sides."

The judging panel was made up of sitting judges from the New Haven area, attorneys with moot court experience and Yale law students. Teams were judged not on the merits of the case but rather on their professionalism and their ability to project authentic courtroom behavior.

The Cornell team is coached by third-year Cornell Law School student Joshua Field. "He's wonderful," said Grad. "He's a volunteer who gives freely of his time and advice."

In February the team will go on to compete in a regional tournament. They hope to be victorious again and make it to the nationals in Iowa in April. They reached the nationals two years ago.

In addition to Grad and Becker, the members of the winning team were ILR seniors Deborah Chow, Maria Corsaro, Heather Mahar, team captain Shawn McDonald and Palak Shah. Other Cornell undergraduate participants were Kelly Chesbro, Lisa Dorfman, Nadia Drake, Melissa Kosack, Mike Marando and Joan Luu.