St. Edward’s University’s pre-law fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta, attended the 2015 P.A.D. Pre-Law Conference, Mock Trial Competition and Law Expo in Arlington, Virginia

This is the first time that St. Edward’s Phi Alpha Delta chapter has attended the conference and participated in the Mock Trial. The conference and competition were held Oct. 28- 31.

While the team had some advising, they competed without the aid of a coach, which is not typical for many of the teams competing.

The mock trial team, consisting of Phi Alpha Delta’s President Lucie Arvallo; Vice President Audrey Townend; Fundraising Coordinator and Social Media Co-Chair Shayan Mirzahaidar; and Network Chair Elizabeth Marx competed against other universities’ Phi Alpha Delta chapters.

“We didn’t have a coach telling us what we needed to do, we figured it out along the way,” Marx said. “And in the end, we scored within the ranges that our competitors had scored.”

St. Edward’s won in the round against Texas Tech University.

“[Their] bearing was great … It speaks for the P.A.D. program at St. Edward’s, but they had really good speaking ability, for natural talent and potential, St. Edward’s was really great,” said Jacob Parsont, mock trial chair and coach for Texas Tech. “Next year, St. Edward’s will probably be even more competitive, which is what we want, we want Texas schools to finally become competitive.”

After leaving Virginia, the team reflected on the competition.

“In the moment because we had worked so hard, I felt really down on myself, but now that I’ve had a couple of days to process everything, I’m really proud of everything that we did. We don’t have a formal pre-law program at St. Edward’s … It’s not a school that’s structured for attorneys to be at,” Shayan said.

“For me, this experience confirmed what I want to do with my life,” Townend said, and advised future teams to “establish everything collectively at mock trial practice.”

The conference played a lot of different roles for that team, especially in terms of solidifying future career choices.

“In mock trial you’re able to put all those skills to the test, and find out where your weaknesses and strengths are. For me, I think it helped me to understand that advocacy is a really important part of my career or something that I want to be a part of my career,” Arvallo said.