By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

More than 125 aspiring attorneys from 32 colleges and universities across the country arrived in Buffalo City Court Friday looking to capture the top prize in the sixth annual Buffalo Niagara National Mock Trial Competition.

After three days and 73 separate trials, it was the team from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago that earned a conviction and the title, outmaneuvering the defense team from St. John's University School of Law Monday afternoon in the Supreme Court ceremonial courtroom.

The competition, which director Hon. Thomas "Tim" Franczyk calls "the biggest in the country," offers students a chance to argue a case before a sitting jury comprised of local attorneys and a judge in a courthouse setting. State Supreme Court Justice Hon. Kevin Dillon presided over the championship round.

The case at the center of the final round had all the trappings of an episode of "Law and Order": A law-school dean is shot and killed in his office, and the primary suspect is a professor in the same law school. Both men, in the fictional case, were romantically linked with the same female student.

The four-member team from Marshall - Anthony Sam, Christina Morrison, Alexandra Spavacek and Steve Tschiggfrie - convinced the five-member jury that, indeed, that the professor was the triggerman.

The mock case was created again this year by Syracuse Law School professor Travis Lewin, who presided over last year's Buffalo Niagara National championship round. Franczyk summed up the case as one involving "a dead dean, a femme fatale and a slew of suspects," and noted, with tongue in cheek, "Professor Lewin assured me the fact pattern is completely fictional."

Aside from that disclaimer, those involved in the trial competition say they are always amazed at how real the proceedings appear.

Solo practitioner Deborah Scinta was one of the attorneys who sat on the jury for the final three rounds. In her first year working with the UB mock-trial program, Scinta came away impressed.

"They certainly exceeded my expectations," she said. "They were well-prepared and presented themselves in an incredibly professional manner."

Scinta said both sides in the championship argued strong cases, and the verdict came down to a 3-2 vote by jury members.

"It was a very tough decision, and I actually had to do a tie-breaker in the final round on my own score sheet because it was so close," she said. For Scinta, it was "phenonmenal" opening and closing statements that sealed the deal for the team from John Marshall.

Franczyk deemed the mock trials a success across the board.

"We are thrilled with how the competition went this year," he said. "It was probably the smoothest-running trial competition we have had."

He gave credit to the more than 150 lawyers and judges who volunteered their time to be part of the four-day event.

"So many of them have been doing this year after year," Franczyk said, "and we wouldn't have what we do - this wouldn't exist - without them."

Anthony Sam was presented with the Michael J. Schnirel Award as the top courtroom advocate for the tournament. The award is named in honor of 2008 UB Law graduate Michael Schnirel, who died in a plane crash last spring, shortly after passing the bar examination and beginning his career as a lawyer with the law firm of Doran & Murphy LLP.

Franczyk said the quality of the student competitors continues to rise every year.

"If someone just walked in off the street and sat down in the courtroom and watched these students performing," he said, "they would swear that they are real lawyers."