The Request for Proposals to host AMTA Regional Tournaments is now available on the Regionals page.

Continuing hosts will be notified if they need to submit a new proposal.

Prospective hosts should follow the directions in the RFP.

Mock Trial Academy is looking for Teaching Assistants for this summer's program. For information on the camp itself, please visit www.mocktrialacademy.com.

For information on the position, or to apply, please email Alicia Hawley at information@mocktrialacademy.com.

It it with great sadness AMTA reports the death of Gene Reifsnider on March 30, 2008. Mr. Reifsnider was a proud alum of Drake Law School. Dick Calkins, AMTA’s long-time president, was the Dean of the Drake Law School in the mid-1980s, and when AMTA was but a thought in the mind of Dean Calkins, he turned to Mr. Reifsnider, to float the idea of an undergraduate mock trial association. Reifsnider was enthusiastic about AMTA, and along with Dan Stamatelos, another Drake alum, the trio founded AMTA. Over the years, Reifsnider was the consummate AMTA cheerleader and supporter. He judged every year, recruited members of the Iowa Bar to judge, earned a spot in AMTA’s Judges’ Hall of Fame, and provided generous financial support to AMTA. These financial contributions were especially critical during AMTA’s formative years. One of the traveling trophies for the national tournament has been named in his honor. His commitment to AMTA continues even in death as he asked that memorials be designated to AMTA.

Condolences may be sent to

Barbara Reifsnider

2729 82nd Street Place, Unit 332

Urbandale, IA 50322

Memorial contributions may be made to either the Drake Law School Annual Fund, Drake University, Office of Alumni and Development, 2507 University Ave. Des Moines, IA 50311-4505 or to the American Mock Trial Association 2700 Westown Parkway, Suite 220 West Des Moines, IA 50266-1411.

A full obituary is available at

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/dclassifieds?Dato=20080403&Kategori=Obituaries&Class=30&Type=CAT1320&Lopenr=10403002&Selected=32#

For the 2008 National Championship, Maryland beat out George Washington 2 ballots to 1. Congratulations to both teams as well as everyone who competed in Minneapolis.

The tab summaries are available on the tabulation page.

A spreadsheet with the Championship Divisions is on the tabulation page. Click the Mock Trial drop down tab on the homepage and then go to Tabulation. Scroll down to National Tournaments and it is the first file.

UPDATE: "Division One" is now officially the "O'Reilly Division" and "Division Two" is the "Lundgren-Risk Division."

All of the Postseason Tab Summaries will be posted on the Tabulation page.

The corrections to the Nationals version of the case have been posted. There is a "corrections" chart that tracks all changes from the prior nationals version of the case (issued on 2/25/2008). The contributions of sharp-eyed participants who spotted corrections and forwarded them to the AMTA officer are much appreciated and expedited the process of making and uploading the corrections.

The case change log identifies the documents that have undergone major changes since regionals. The corrections charts identifies the "clean-up" list for this re-issue.

Technical problems should be emailed to Sara Zeigler at Sara.Zeigler@eku.edu.

Other questions should be sent to Susan Ewing at amta@dwx.net. Please be advised that while all emails identifying problems and errors are welcome, additional changes will not be issued prior to the conclusion of the March national tournaments, out of consideration for the competitors.

AMTA appreciates your patience with the process of identifying problems and making corrections, as well as the emails that facilitated that process.

AMTA has contracted with The Princeton Review to provide new benefits to our participants. AMTA participants and alumni will receive a $100 discount on all online and classroom test preparation courses offered by The Princeton Review (any course, not just the LSAT!). To obtain the link to the discounted registration materials, log in to the case page. The link has also been emailed to all primary contacts.

In addition to providing the discounts, The Princeton Review is also sponsoring AMTA's five national-level tournaments and giving away one free course at each national site. TPR representatives will be available for one-on-one consultations at each national site and will also offer information packets to all participants at registration.

If you have questions about the new benefits, please contact the AMTA office.

The new case materials contain some unintentional errors. Corrections will be issued on Wednesday, Feb 27. A few key points include the Pat Cross incident in the Campbell affidavit and the omission of the Alford plea language, caused by use of pre-December documents in some of the file conversions.

The Case Committee appreciates your patience and asks that participants continue to send all questions regarding errors to us, so that we can issue a single set of corrections.

This exhibit is an error in the case log and will not be issued.

The case changes for use in the national-level tournaments are now available. There is a case change log on the case page, but be advised that it notes only additions and changed documents. You will have to read the case yourself for the substance!

AMTA advises all teams to download and print the full PDF file for use in trial. As always, there may be errors that the Case Committee has missed and will need to correct prior to nationals. All such changes will be announced and posted.

If you discover technical problems (wrong file attached to title, etc), please contact Sara Zeigler at Sara.Zeigler@eku.edu. If you have substantive questions about the case, please send those to Susan Ewing at amta@dwx.com who will forward them to the Case Committee.

The Open Bid Rankings are now updated to reflect the standings at the end of the regional season. They are still tentative. Any errors should be reported ASAP to MockMaster@aol.com Open Bids will not be officially offered until Wednesday February 27. It is not yet known how many open bids will be extended. The Open Bid Rankings (on the Tabulation page of the Mock Trial drop down menu) will be updated regularly.

The Case Committee anticipates that changes for nationals will post on Feb. 25. The Committee is uploading the files and will post as soon after the end of regionals as is feasible.

Waukegan and Tuscon Bid Reservation Forms now available.

Memphis Tournament home page now available.

Please see the tournament links on the 'Nationals Info' page found in the 'Mock Trial' drop-down menu.

All information regarding the schedule for the Dallas and Rancho Cucamonga regionals are available on the host's web site.

http://people.smu.edu/mocktrial (Dallas)

http://www.cmcmocktrial.com (Rancho Cucamonga)

This link is also posted under the Regional Tournaments menu.