Dear Lucas A. Ferrara,
My name is Corinne Ruth, and I serve as the tournament director for the Yale Mock Trial Association. It is my pleasure to invite you join us as a judge at our upcoming New Haven Regional Competition to be held Saturday and Sunday, February 23rd and 24th, 2013 at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. We apologize if you have already been in contact with us about assisting at this competition, if so, feel free to ignore this invitation.
We apologize for contacting you on such short notice. The event was originally planned to take place during the weekend of February 9th-10th, but we were forced to cancel because of the snowstorm. As many of the judges who had registered to assist us during the initial competition cannot make it during the rescheduled date, we are in great need of volunteer judges.
Mock trial is an undergraduate student organization in which competitors from around the nation prepare and present a fictional case to attorney judges such as you. Past judges have reported our tournament to be an engaging and rewarding experience, and are frequently impressed by the level of competition. In fact, many of our past judges choose to return year after year.
This prestigious regionals competition is the first round of the national tournament and includes 26 teams. Its success depends on the generosity of legal professionals such as yourself who donate their time and energy each year.
As a law-related student organization we have continuously been able to provide our volunteer judges with 3 CLE credits free of charge. Currently we are in the processes of reapplying for our accredited-provider status in accordance with the 3-year cycle dictated by the New York Continuing Legal Education Board. We have received informal notification that there are no issues with our application and we anticipate that we will receive formal notice that we may continue to offer CLE credit soon.
This year, the rounds will be as follows:
Saturday, February 23rd, 2013:
-9:00-9:30 -- Judge Check in Round One/Breakfast
-9:45 -- Judges’ Meeting
-10:30 - 1:30 p.m. -- Round One
-1:30 - 2:45 p.m. -- Judge Check in Round Two/Lunch
-2:45 -- Judges’ Meeting
-3:30 - 6:30 p.m. -- Round Two
Sunday, February 24th, 2013:
-8:00-8:30 -- Judge Check in Round Three/Breakfast
-8:45 -- Judges’ Meeting
-9:30 - 12:30 p.m. -- Round Three
-12:30 - 1:45 p.m. -- Judge Check in Round 4/Lunch
-1:45 -- Judges’ Meeting
-2:30 - 5:30 p.m. -- Round Four
To register to judge, please fill out the form located on our website, http://www.yale.edu/mocktrial/jreg2013.html. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation email within a few days along with more information regarding event logistics.
If you have questions not answered on our website, please do not hesitate to contact us. We ask that you address all questions regarding judging to corinne.ruth@yale.edu. Feel free to forward this information to any interested colleagues. The Yale Mock Trial Association depends on the generosity of volunteers like you for the success of this event, and we would greatly appreciate any help you could provide, especially since we have a large number of judging spaces to be filled in such a short period of time.
Thank you so much! We hope that you made it through the storm safely.
Corinne Ruth
YMTA Tournament Director