The University of Florida Mock Trial Team, also known as the UF LitiGators, recently hosted the Swamp Invitational on January 18-19, 2020. The Swamp Invitational was sponsored by Phelps Dunbar, a law firm that offers national talent with local pricing to companies in the Gulf South.
The competition consists of four rounds in which a team prepares a case for both the prosecution and the defense. The teams use the case they have prepared to go against another school’s team. The Swamp Invitational hosted 29 teams from 18 schools throughout the Southeast and Midwest region. The tournament was held at the UF Levin College of Law and totaled to nearly 300 competitors all competing for the number one spot!
There were 10 attorneys who won an Outstanding Attorney award and 11 witnesses took home an Outstanding Witness award. Team awards were given to the teams who won the most ballots overall. Among the top teams were Florida State University, University of Alabama, Georgia Tech, and the University of Florida. The Swamp Invitational also gave out the C. Richard Parker Professionalism Award, our version of a good sportsmanship award. This award goes to the highest ranked team in terms of honesty, civility and fair play. While many teams exhibited these qualities, the one team that best embodied these characteristics was the University of West Florida.
The UF Litigators recruited over 60 local judges, attorneys, professors, UF Law admissions staff, and law students to judge at the tournament. We are grateful to all the judges who took time out of their day to help judge The Swamp Invitational!
The goal of the Swamp Invitational is to provide teams a fun, competitive experience to prepare them for Regionals in February. We are so pleased by the amount of teams that enjoyed The Swamp Invitational! Florida State University said, “this was a fantastic invitational, and I genuinely appreciate the hard work put into this tournament. The Tournament Director deserves a pat on the back for this one.” None of this would have been possible without our Tournament Director, Mumtaz Abdulhussein, and our head coach, Dr. Laura Sjoberg. It is because of them that The Swamp Invitational was a success!