Pursuant to AMTA Rule 3.5, all students who compete in AMTA-sanctioned tournaments must complete the AMTA Current Competitor Registration Form now available on the AMTA website at the Individual Registration subpage under the AMTA Registration tab. Please direct any questions regarding this policy to AMTA's Development Chair, Jacelyn Palmer, at jpalmer03@hamline.edu.

On August 13, AMTA released the 2010-2011 civil case, Davis v. HappyLand Toy Company, which was written by Erin Coltrera of Washington & Lee University. The case is available under the “Mock Trial Cases” menu.

Log-in information has been sent to the official contact person of all programs that have completed the registration form and whose registration payments have been received and processed by AMTA. See AMTA Rule 2.10(4). Please direct any questions about registration payments to Susan Ewing at amta@dwx.com. In addition, please note the provisions of AMTA Rules 2.10 and 2.12 that authorize sanctions for engaging in, providing, or facilitating unauthorized case access.

The Civil Case Committee intends to release an edited version of the Davis case sometime during the weekend of September 4-6. No substantive changes are planned—simply the correction of any typographical or other formal errors that are discovered during the initial release period. Participants are encouraged to bring any perceived errors to the attention of the committee’s chair (Toby Heytens; tobyheytens@gmail.com) by Thursday, September 2. Please include the word “Davis” in the subject line.

As discussed above, the 2010-11 AMTA civil case will involve beads. Schools wishing to present the beads as physical evidence may purchase a packet of beads from AMTA. Only these beads may be used in trial. AMTA anticipates that most schools will want to purchase one packet per team, but schools may purchase as many (or as few) packets as they choose. The case materials will include a photograph of the beads, and some teams may choose to use that photograph in lieu of purchasing any bead packets.

Each packet of beads costs $5.00. To purchase the beads, please send a check to AMTA in the appropriate amount. Schools that have not yet submitted their registration payment for the 2010-11 season are encouraged to add the cost of the bead packet(s) to their registration costs and send AMTA a single check.

Teams wishing to purchase the beads MUST also enclosed a self-addressed and pre-stamped envelope. One pre-stamped envelope (with 44 cents postage) can accommodate up to four packets of beads. ***AMTA will not process any bead order until it has received the self-addressed stamped envelope.***

Information related to the 2010 Board of Directors meeting can be found at the Board of Directors tab.

Note that if you are planning on attending the meeting, you are invited to complete the registration form linked to the 2010 Board Meeting page. The information collected will be used for planning purposes only.

If you would like to host a regional or an opening round championship series tournament in 2011, the proposal form is now available. Navigate to either the Opening Round Series Information or Regional Info (located under the Mock Trial tab) and click on Host Information Packet. Proposals are due by Monday, 7 June at midnight EDT. If you have questions, contact Dr. Glen Halva-Neubauer, Tournament Administration Committee Chair, at glen.halva-neubauer@furman.edu.

If you earned witness or attorney honors at Regionals or ORCS and have not yet received your award, please contact Rules Committee Chair Johnathan Woodward at jgw225@gmail.com. Please include a shipping address.

Minor changes to the case for the National Championship Tournament have been posted. The PDF of the entire case includes all changes. There is a new "Change Log (4.2)" posted with a list of all changes in this latest version. Individual documents that have been modified (Special Instructions and the Lee, Reid, and Simmons affidavits) are indicated by the comment "4/2 corrected version" below the links.

Anyone finding further errors or problems with the case changes should contact the co-chairs of the Criminal Case Committee, Tom Parker (thomas.parker@eku.edu) and Jason Butler (jasonbutlerlaw@hotmail.com).

Case changes for the National Championship Tournament have been posted. The PDF of the entire case includes all changes. The change log for 3/28 listed in the case documents details all changes. Individual documents that have been changed are indicated by a "3/28 revision" comment below the link.

The divisions for the National Championship Tournament were drawn at the conclusion of ORCs, in Boston.

Those divisions can be found on the tabulation page, along with all updated tabulation files.

The Mock Trial Academy, a prestigious summer camp for high school students to learn the art of trial advocacy, is looking for Teaching Assistants. Interested applicants must be at least current college sophomores or law school students AND must have competed at least at the ORC level at some point in their college mock trial career.

More information about the Academy can be found under the Mock Trial Academy link under the Resources tab.

Please email information@mocktrialacademy.com for more information and for instructions on applying.

The Team Assignment Subcommittee issued its original Regional Tournament assignments on Wednesday, 25 November 2009. The final update of those assignments is now posted on the Regional Tournaments Page. After reaching the Regional Tournaments Page, click the link for Team Assignments. While the page says 2009 assignments, these are the 2010 Assignments. If you wish to review all of the changes made by the Team Assignment Subcommittee to date, that document “Change Sheet” can be found on the Tabulation Page, under the General Heading.

The AMTA postseason field is now complete, and can be viewed on the earned bids sheet on the tabulation page.

All open bids have been distributed, and it is not anticipated that any more will be given out this year.

Good luck to all teams participating in the Opening Rounds of our Championship Series!

[NOTE: A second revised version has been posted @ 8:45pm on 3/1. The earlier correction was off by one day; the new version corrects that error.]

An error was discovered in the Charney affidavit after the 2/28 case changes had been issued. The error involved an unintended discrepancy between the date ranges for various stages of blow fly development and Charney's date-of-death conclusion.

A revised version of the Charney affidavit, a corrected case binder, and a revised change log incorporating the Charney changes have been posted to the AMTA site.

Case changes for the ORC tournaments have been posted. The PDF of the entire case includes all changes. The change log for 2/28 listed in the case documents details all changes. Individual documents that have been changed are indicated by a "2.28 revision" comment below the link.

As of Friday morning, both the Princeton and Jamaica regionals will proceed as scheduled. Although St. John's (Jamaica) is closed for classes, it will be open for the regional tournament. AMTA will continue to post updates if circumstances change.

Teams should exercise their own judgment with regard the safety of traveling in inclement weather. Teams that are unable to travel should contact the tournament host immediately. AMTA will waive penalties for teams that must withdraw from the tournament due to unsafe travel conditions.

Questions or notices may be directed to the AMTA office, the tournament hosts or AMTA President Sara Zeigler at slzeigler@gmail.com