UMKC graduate Mock Trial team sweeps Nationals

  After a hard-fought week of stress and anxiety, UMKC graduate law students Karima Burns, Bethany Holstead and Kaleb Miller won undefeated at the Collegiate Mock Trial National Championship Tournament (NCT) in Dallas last week.

  “The first one in UMKC History. That is just such a source of pride for me,” Burns said. “I’m just so proud to add something to that trophy room that we haven’t gotten the chance to achieve.”

  To advance to nationals for mock trial, the team had to place in the top two at regionals. Across the country, roughly 300 schools compete for a shot, but only the top 30 schools make it.

  This year UMKC beat teams like University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), a five-time NCT champion, and Harvard University. 

  Burns said the weight of the success took a few days to set in, but the team was thrilled with their win.

  “It took like two days for it to sink into my mind that somebody thinks we’re the best in the nation,” Burns said.

  “It’s pretty rare in your life that you get a physical manifestation of a good job,” Holstead said.

  Both Holstead and Burns were clear that their success was only possible because of the collective team effort, including fellow graduate student and team member Kaleb Miller and their coaches Alex Serra, Pace Jaworski and Jackson Elder.

  The team had been steadily working without a break since Christmas to prepare, making sure they were staying on top of everything they needed to win.

  “We got the first case for regionals through Christmas. We did not take a day off. We won regionals, a day later the national problems came out and we went right back to work,” Burns said.

  While competitive, mock trial primarily serves as a training ground for aspiring attorneys, providing a place for them to hone their skills.

  “It’s kind of a fun way to do that. You can learn and make your mistakes in the classroom courtroom instead of when you’re defending real people with their freedoms at stake,” Holstead said. 

  Winning at nationals is not only an achievement for the university, but an achievement for their careers in law. Many tournaments are judged by practicing attorneys, and a strong performance at nationals means recognition from working professionals.

   “This is the gold standard. This is the one you want. It’s the NBA championship. It’s the Super Bowl, so getting it done there means so much,” Burns said.

  UMKC’s mock trial team also made it to the semi-final round of nationals in 2024 and was ranked the 11th-best mock trial program in the country that year. 

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