The past two weeks of my life has been consumed with mock trial preparation, and it’s surreal that in a blink of an eye the mock trial is over and my summer at RumbergerKirk is coming to an end. To prepare for the mock trial, Freddy and I had scheduled practices Monday-Friday that lasted about two hours each night. Each night we focused on different aspects of the trial to practice in front of our coaches through video conference. For example, Monday would be Opening Statements, Tuesday and Wednesday we would practice direct/cross examinations, Thursday was Closing Arguments, etc. After two weeks of practices, I have learned so much about how to be an effective trial attorney. I can’t thank those individuals enough that took the time out of their busy schedules to share their knowledge! Although a simple “thank you” doesn’t seem to cover it, I want to thank my coaches, my co-counsel Freddy’s coach, Jacey Kaps, and all the Orlando and Miami attorneys that attended practices over the last two weeks to give helpful pointers and feedback.

As the mock trial approached, I was getting more and more anxious to get the show on the road and finally put all my hard work and preparation to the test! On Sunday, the day before the mock trial, all four Summer Associates spent the day in the Orlando office getting ready for the big day. After two weeks of practicing via video conference, it was nice to finally meet up with Freddy in person to go over both of our trials together. We were tying up loose ends and making last minute changes in the conference room, when all of a sudden the lights in the entire office shut off. We laughed, looked at our phones, and noticed it was almost 9:00 p.m.—our signal that it was time to go home and get some rest.

It was game day – the Mock Trial! You could tell today was the biggest day of the summer because people were bustling around the office, the Boardroom was filled with people,papers strung across the tables, and breakfast was served for everyone attending (thanks RKC for making sure I’m fed at all times and giving me one less thing to worry about!). The first trial started promptly at 9:30 a.m. Freddy and I represented the defendant first, and I took care of the introductions, Motions in Limine, and Opening Statement for our side. Although it was a lot of back-to-back work right in the beginning, it helped ease my nerves and warmed me up for the rest of the day. By the end of the first trial, I thought everything went smoothly and both sides did great overall!

After lunch, we came back for the second trial where Freddy and I represented the Plaintiffs. Preparing for both sides helped me know the case from both points of view really well, which was helpful when I had to counter any arguments Jessica and Jeff made throughout the day as opposing counsel. The second trial was a success as well, and I thought everyone did a great job with their Openings, Closings, examinations, and objections. One of my favorite parts of the second trial was delivering my Closing Argument at the very end of the day. I gave a PowerPoint presentation of the significant timeline of events, which I think was a big hit with the judges and jury to break down the facts and give them something else to look at throughout my 12-minute Closing. Although the winning team wasn’t announced, I’d like to think Freddy and I would have won (No, I’m not biased at all!). Based on the feedback we were given, all four Summer Associates did a great job on both trials, and a big shout-out to Jessica for winning the Best Advocate at the end of the day! We ended the day with Happy Hour in the office, which was the perfect reward for all the hard work everyone put in over the last two weeks! It’s experiences like this that make me thankful for my time at RK and will make leaving at the end of summer so difficult!