2020 all star bracket challenge...2020/08/22 · coin flip d. the sweet sixteen is october 22-24,...
TRANSCRIPT
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2020 ALL STAR BRACKET CHALLENGE
AN ONLINE 64 TEAM REGIONAL TO SWEET 16 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
OPENING ROUNDS OCTOBER 15-18
NATIONAL ROUNDS OCTOBER 23-24
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Local Rules
All Star Bracket Challenge
1. Overview (All Star Bracket Challenge)
A. The tournament features 64 teams from 64 different law schools.
B. The host committee includes A.J. Bellido de Luna (St. Mary’s University School of
Law), Justin Bernstein (UCLA School of Law), Megan Chaney (Nova Southeastern
University College of Law), Carlos Concepcion (InterAmerican University of Puerto
Rico School of Law), Frankie DiGiacco (University of San Diego School of Law), Sean
McGuinness and Ryan O’Neill (Quinnipiac University School of Law), Nicole
Montagnet (Loyola University New Orleans College of Law), and Spencer Pahlke
(University of California Berkeley School of Law). The host committee has discretion to
interpret these rules and amend these rules as necessary to address situations not
presently covered by these rules, including changes in national, state, and/or local health
and safety guidelines. The host committee’s decisions are final.
C. The Opening Weekend is October 15-18, 2020.
1. Teams will each be assigned to one of four Regions: East, South, Midwest, and West.
The East Region will be hosted by Quinnipiac. The South Region will be hosted by
Nova. The Midwest Region will be hosted by St. Mary’s. The West Region will be
hosted Berkeley, USD, and UCLA.
2. Each team will have four preliminary trials. Between rounds one and two, teams will
switch sides of the case. Between rounds three and four, teams will switch sides of
the case. Thus, each team will represent each side twice during the preliminary trials.
All trials will be intra-Region: teams assigned to the East Region will only face other
teams assigned to the East Region, etc.
3. Opponents will be assigned randomly and before the Opening Weekend begins.
Teams will not face the same opponent twice in the preliminary trials.
4. The top four teams from each region will advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Advancement
and seeding in the Sweet Sixteen will be determined by:
a. Trials won (winning a trial means winning a majority of the three scored ballots)
b. Ballots won (out of 12)
c. Margin of victory (point differential)
d. Strength of schedule (ballots won by one’s opponents)
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e. Total points
f. Coin flip
D. The Sweet Sixteen is October 22-24, 2020.
1. The 16 advancing teams will be placed in a single elimination NCAA style bracket.
Each quarter of the bracket will have one team from each of the four Regions. Each
quarter of the bracket will have a 1 seed, 2 seed, 3 seed, and 4 seed. The bracket will
be announced by October 18.
2. In Sweet Sixteen, the host will assign sides randomly (by coin flip). In later rounds,
if teams have faced previously they will reverse sides; otherwise, the team that has
represented defense fewer times shall represent defense; if both teams have
represented defense side an equal number of times, the host will assign sides
randomly (by coin flip).
3. The team that wins a majority of ballots in each trial prevails. The winner of the final
trial will be the All Star Bracket Challenge National Champion.
E. All trials will occur by Zoom.
F. Awards will be provided to the top-scoring advocates from the Opening Weekend, and
one award will be provided to the top-scoring advocate from bracket trials.
G. The registration fee is $600, which must be submitted by August 3, 2020 by check or
credit card. Schools that withdraw will not receive a refund.
2. Team Composition
A. A team consists of either four or five law students attending the same participating law
school. For the purposes of these rules, a law student is a person enrolled during the
semester or quarter of the competition. Only candidates for a J.D. may compete. LLM
students are not eligible.
B. After a team’s first preliminary trial begins, team members may not be substituted, except
for good cause, such as death, severe illness, or other uncontrollable circumstances. A
team must obtain written approval to substitute a team member.
C. In every trial, two team members will serve as attorneys and two other team members
will serve as witnesses. In each trial, each attorney must perform one direct examination,
one cross examination, and one speech (opening or closing). An attorney may only
object to a witness examination if she is also examining that witness and may only object
to a speech if she is performing the opposing speech (e.g., only the person crossing the
defendant may object to the defendant direct, and only the attorney who opens for the
defense may object to the prosecution opening).
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D. The team may have a fifth student serve as a trial technician responsible for technology
needs, such as display of exhibits, or it may assign those responsibilities to one or more
of the other four members.
E. Subject to provisions in these rules, participating teams determine which team members
perform the specific roles in each round, and those determinations may change from trial
to trial.
F. Each team must have a coach/advisor – who is a licensed attorney or holds a J.D. –
available from the coaches meeting until the conclusion of all trials. Should a team not
comply with this requirement, the team will be permitted to compete, but will
automatically forfeit all rounds, will not be permitted to advance beyond the preliminary
rounds, and will not be permitted to protest or defend a protest.
G. Each team will receive a unique identification number. Teams should use their number,
and never their school name, when identifying themselves to judges.
H. Before the tournament, teams will announce the gender pronouns of their witnesses and
those identifications will be provided to all teams.
3. Schedule
A. The case problem, United States v. Oski, will be released by August 31, 2020.
B. Please report errors and clarification requests to [email protected] by
noon PDT September 14, 2020. Please report any questions regarding these rules by the
same date and time. By September 30, 2020, we will release a revised version of the case
and these rules. In an effort to provide finality to all teams as they prepare, issues raised
after September 15, 2020 are unlikely to be addressed.
C. On September 6, we will announce which schools are assigned to each Region of the All
Star Bracket Challenge. Each Region will announce the dates and times of its four trials.
D. On October 3, 2020, we will draw and announce the matchups for all preliminary rounds
in the Opening Weekend of the All Star Bracket Challenge.
E. By October 5, teams must submit their rosters and roles. The host will send each team a
form to complete.
F. On October 11, 2020, we will hold a mandatory coaches’ meeting. Each of the
competing schools must have at least one non-student coach/advisor in attendance.
4. Case Problem
A. The case problem used for this tournament is copyrighted and may not be used for
purposes other than its intended use without the express written consent of the author.
Teams may not download any portion of this case problem to any website without the
express written approval of the author.
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B. The case problem will be distributed via a Google Drive link.
C. The persons, organizations, and events depicted in this problem are fictional and were
prepared solely for the educational exercise of this tournament. Any resemblance to
actual persons, living or deceased, is unintentional and purely coincidental.
D. The Federal Rules of Evidence and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure will control
unless stated in the problem or otherwise modified by the rules. Otherwise, no legal
authorities may be cited during trial except those included in the case problem.
E. All case materials will be treated as originals and authentic. All handwriting and
signatures should be considered authentic. All documents that appear to have been sent
to, or by, a witness are to be considered as having been sent or received by that witness.
Witnesses must authenticate exhibits and materials with which they are familiar.
F. The pretrial order will dictate the sequence in which witnesses must be called.
G. The case will include housekeeping instructions and a pretrial order.
5. Judges/Evaluators
A. Members of the bench and bar will serve as presiding judges and evaluators. The host
committee will make every reasonable effort to provide a panel of three or more
evaluators for each round.
B. If a trial includes more than three evaluators, the host committee will decide before the
trial, but will not announce to the competing teams, which three ballots will count toward
the results. The presiding judge is eligible to have a ballot.
C. If a trial has only two evaluators, their scores will be averaged to create a third ballot. If
their averages create a tie, the presiding judge's ballot will break the tie with an additional
point.
D. Evaluators will assign a score of 1-10, with 10 being best, to each of six performances:
opening statement, two direct examinations, two cross-examinations, and closing
argument. Each team can score a maximum of 60 points per trial. Evaluators will be
asked to ensure their ballots do not result in a tie, but to resolve any ties, evaluators will
be asked to identify the team that had superior advocacy skills. Their answer to that
question will count if and only if the ballot is otherwise tied.
E. The evaluator orientation will be conducted online, and a recording will be made
available to all teams.
6. Conduct of Trials
A. This tournament adopts the Modified Model Rules of Conduct for Mock Trial
Competitions (are attached to these Local Rules). In instances where the Model Rules
and these Local Rules conflict, the Local Rules control.
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B. The pretrial order will specify the number of minutes each party has to present its case.
This limit includes time spent on housekeeping, making and responding to motions,
examining witnesses, presenting opening statement or closing argument, and reading
deposition testimony or other evidence into the record. It does not include time spent
arguing objections; the clock stops for objections. No housekeeping or motions in limine
are permitted.
C. Zoom Rules
1. The host committee will coordinate all trials by Zoom.
a. The host committee will provide a bailiff for each trial.
b. To the extent teams choose to meet-and-confer before trial, the host does not
coordinate such conferences, though the Host will make teams’ contact
information available. Teams should avoid using the Zoom courtrooms for any
pretrial conferences, as judges and evaluators may arrive early.
2. Teams’ Setup
a. Except as expressly limited by these rules, teams may set up their space and use
whatever technology they wish in whatever manner they wish. The host
committee will provide teams with recommendations about how to set up their
“courtrooms” and how best to use the technology provided.
b. Witnesses must be seated unless given permission by the presiding judge to stand.
c. Teams may not have on screen (1) anything that identifies their school, state,
region, or demonstrates any affiliation to an organization (whether or not
associated with a school), or (2) trophies or any other indicia of competition
success.
d. During trial, no two team members may be in the same room.
e. Teams may not use teleprompters or any script-scrolling devices or applications.
3. Signing in to Zoom
a. Teams will receive a Zoom link to their trials. All team members must sign in at
least 15 minutes before trial.
b. Teams may provide the link to family, friends, and classmates so that they may
observe the trials in which their team is participating, but teams are responsible
for ensuring that their attendees know and comply with all Local Rules.
4. Naming
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a. Attorneys’ screen names must identify their party, team number, and name. For
example, the screen name is “Pros–104–Leighty.”
b. Witness screen names must identify only the party and the witness character’s
name. For example, if Danielle Craig plays defense witness Jamie Bond, her
screen would be, “Def—Bond.”
c. If teams have a fifth team member acting as a trial technician, that student should
never appear on screen. Just in case, though, that student’s screen name must
state their role and party: for example, “Pros–Tech.”
d. Coaches and observers will never appear on screen. However, in the abundance of
caution a coach’s or observer’s screen name should be “Coach” or “Observer.”
5. Audio and Video
a. Attorneys must mute their audio except when performing. For example, a
prosecutor should mute her audio during the defense opening and during the
defendant direct examination.
b. Attorneys may never disable their video except during a recess. Bailiffs will be in
charge of video display and will generally attempt to display participants in this
manner:
(a) During appearances, housekeeping, and motions, the presiding judge and all
attorneys generally will be visible.
(b) During opening statement and closing argument, the attorney speaking will be
visible, unless an objection is raised, in which case the presiding judge and the
objecting attorney will also be made visible for the duration of any discussion
of the objection.
(c) During examination of a witness, the presiding judge, the testifying witness,
and the two attorneys who will examine the witness will be visible.
c. Team members acting as trial technicians should mute their audio and disable
their video at all times.
6. Technical Difficulties
a. Internet interruptions are inevitable. For momentary lapses or lags, remedies are
unnecessary.
b. If a team has a significant technical problem, please pause the trial and notify the
bailiff immediately. If the bailiff is unable to resolve the issue, or if the bailiff is
having a technical difficulty, contact the host immediately.
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c. Judges will be asked not to submit their ballots if, for whatever reason (including
problems with their Internet), they have not had a meaningful ability to evaluate
each scored function of the trial.
7. Recording/Livestreaming
a. Teams may not record their trials.
b. The bailiffs will be responsible for recording all trials, and the host committee
intends to make recordings available to teams after the tournament.
c. The host committee plans to livestream the championship round.
d. No video or audio recording by teams or spectators are permitted. A student’s
decision to participate in the tournament constitutes consent to be recorded on
videotape or in photographs. As a condition of publication and for no monetary
compensation, this consent grants the host committee, and all of its law schools,
the nonexclusive worldwide rights to reproduce, distribute, and sell any visual
material in connection with the student’s participation, in whole or in part, in any
media, as part of a course book or any other publication and to license these rights
to others. Consent also grants the host committee, and all of its law schools, the
right to use student’s name, voice and image in connection with the published
tournament materials.
D. Course of the Trial
1. The trial will be treated as a jury trial. The presiding judge shall rule on all issues
throughout the trial, but there will be no ruling by the presiding judge that precludes
the trial from being presented to conclusion.
2. The case problem will include charges and jury instructions. Teams may not amend,
object to, or propose changes to the charges or jury instructions during trial.
3. Trial will proceed as follows:
a. The presiding judge and the scoring evaluators will enter the room, and a bailiff
will open court and confirm that judges have no conflicts.
b. The attorneys state appearances.
c. The prosecution opens, and then the defense opens.
d. The prosecution calls two witnesses.
e. The court recesses. The parties may not seek a recess longer than five minutes.
f. The defense calls two witnesses.
g. Unless provided for by stipulation, no party may present a rebuttal case.
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h. The court recesses. The parties may not seek a recess longer than five minutes.
i. The prosecution closes, the defense closes, and the prosecution may give a
rebuttal if time permits. Rebuttal is limited to the scope of the defense closing.
The prosecution need not ask to reserve rebuttal time; it has the whatever time
remains, up to three minutes.
j. The evaluators complete and submit their ballots.
k. Once the host has confirmed that the ballots have been received, the evaluators
provide brief feedback.
4. Teams should avoid all references to this as a “mock” trial. If a team has to reference
these rules, they should call them the “Local Rules” and cite the rule number.
5. The bailiff will track time for both teams.
E. Evidence and Demonstrative Aides
1. The only items that may be offered into evidence during trial are the exhibits and
materials included in the case problem.
2. The presiding judge will have an electronic notebook of all case materials. Teams
should not assume that the other evaluators will have access to such materials. If
teams want jurors to see something, they must display it in on camera or via screen
share. Teams may not present documents to judges in any other manner (e.g., email).
3. Teams may use any demonstrative aids they wish as long as the demonstrative aids
are shown electronically. For example, teams may use PowerPoint slides that display
a timeline or a photograph of a generic pair of boots. They may not, however, hold
up a pair of actual boots on screen. (The rationale is that tournaments typically
restrict demonstrative aides for equity reasons: because the costs of creating
enlargements may be prohibitive to some teams. In an online competition, where all
competing teams have access to the Internet and free basic software, those concerns
no longer hold.)
4. The fact that the Local Rules permit demonstrative aides does not immunize such
demonstratives from evidentiary objections.
F. Communication
1. During trial, team members may only communicate with each other, the opposing
team, the judges/evaluators, and tournament officials. They may not communicate
with their coaches or anyone else.
2. Once trial begins, students performing as attorneys may not communicate with
witnesses except during recesses (and publicly, of course while the witness is
testifying).
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3. This communication restriction applies from the moment the judges appear on screen
until judges complete their post-trial feedback. If the teams confer with one another
before trial, the coach-communication restriction begins then.
G. Scouting
1. Scouting is any effort to learn information about an opponent in advance. It includes
watching another team’s trials or speaking with those who did.
2. Scouting is prohibited.
3. This rule does not apply after a school is eliminated from the competition.
H. Witness Testimony
1. On direct examination, a witness is limited to the material facts contained in her
witness statement and any necessary inferences. A witness statement is the witness’s
affidavit, expert report, deposition, custodial interrogation transcript, etc. A
necessary inference is a fact which must be true if the facts in the witness statement
are true. This is much more limited than a “reasonable inference rule.” Judges will be
instructed to heavily penalize attorneys who engage in material invention of fact.
a. Example: An eyewitness states, “I saw a Chevy Camaro heading north on Main,
run the red light, and T-bone a Toyota Prius heading east through the
intersection.” These are necessary inferences: the front of the Camaro struck the
passenger side of the Prius, and the witness has the knowledge and ability to
identify these makes and models. Though some of these might be reasonable
inferences, they are not necessary inferences: the Camaro did not brake or slow;
the Prius had a green light; the witness is a car aficionado; the witness has
excellent vision; it was a bright, sunny day; the witness called 911.
2. Impeachment is the only in-trial remedy for perceived invention. There is no “outside
the record” objection. Because all witness statements include all relevant facts,
witnesses may never respond to an impeachment by stating, “I was not asked that
question” (or the equivalent).
3. On cross examination, witnesses must be responsive to the questions and respectful of
their opponent’s time limit. Where the truthful answer to a question is simply yes or
no, that should be the answer. Excessively long answers are bad faith behavior, and
judges will be instructed to penalize teams with “advocate witnesses.”
4. Because witnesses cannot be recalled, cross-examination is not limited to the
testimony on direct examination. This rule does not include re-cross examination.
5. Redirect examination is permitted.
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6. Re-cross is permitted only if (a) to impeach the witness as to a contradiction or
invention testified to on redirect examination and (b) the attorney seeking to re-cross
first obtains leave to do so from the presiding judge upon an offer of proof.
7. Other than what is supplied in the problem itself, there is nothing about the
background information of any witnesses that would bolster or detract from their
credibility. Teams may not use the characteristics of the students portraying the
witnesses to bolster their cases (e.g., “You saw how small the defendant is. Could she
really have moved that 250-pound body?”).
7. Protests
A. Protests are a last resort and discouraged. Teams must attempt to resolve the dispute
during the trial or with their opponent before lodging a protest.
B. Protests may be lodged only by coaches/advisors. All protests should be lodged as soon
as possible and may be lodged no later than ten minutes of the conclusion of the trial in
question. Notification should be made by text message or phone call to ensure timely
notification. Before the tournament begins, teams will be given the name and contact
information of the person(s) with whom they must lodge any protests.
C. For the Opening Weekend, the host will form a protest committee of coaches across all
four Regions. If a protest is made concerning a trial in one Region, the protest committee
members from the three other regions will adjudicate the protest. For the bracket trials,
the host committee will form a protest committee of coaches whose teams are not
competing in the playoff rounds.
D. The protest committee will evaluate if any offense has been committed and, if so, the
appropriate remedy. If a protest committee believes a protest was frivolous, it may
impose a remedy against the protesting team. The protest committee is authorized to
impose one or more of these remedies: warning; instruction to the judges; time deduction
for culpable team or time addition for the aggrieved team; point deduction; ballot
forfeiture; round forfeiture. Separate from the remedies imposed by the protest
committee, the host committee is authorized to disqualify teams that violate tournament
rules. A disqualified team is not entitled to a refund of its registration fee.