Photo by: Megan Westervelt
“Arraignments had been made for the fire that night,” said Sarah Bousman, one of the four finalists for the Daniel S. Hoffman Memorial Cup Trial Competition at the Sturm College of Law Wednesday night, in her opening statement.
Bousman and Ross Ziev were the prosecution team of the trial.
On the opposing side, Nicole Quintana and Christopher Brown represented the defendant being charged with arson and fraud.
The Hoffman Cup is the most prestigious mock trial put together by the Moot Court Board of the Sturm College of Law, and this year it was commemorated on behalf of the passing of the former Dean Hoffman, whom the tournament is named after.
Wednesday evening marked the first competition. Quintana and Brown will be the first winners to have their names placed on the new award cup. Bousman and Ziev were named runners-up.
Competitors were selected based on merit, allowing only the most committed law students to participate. This ensured that the best of the best students were competing for the title.
A dinner was held with the Hoffman family before the event, and they also attended the mock trial.
The prosecution aimed to prove that the defendant had committed arson in order to claim insurance money on her home, while the defense attorneys argued that there had been “three suspects, two potential origins and one flawed investigation.”
Practicing attorneys from the community and a federal and Denver district judge fulfilled the roles of the judges.
Acting as a judge, Sean Olson, a practicing attorney in Denver, noted the personalities of each competitor were able to shine through during their respective opening and closing statements. All the judges agreed their passion and love for what they were doing was evident.
The intensity and formal style of the competition made it difficult to keep one thing in mind—the trial was not real.
Judge John Madden, Denver district court judge, said the participants were “better than most attorneys they see in court.”
Although the Hoffman Cup tournament is a mock trial, several Colorado judges and attorneys have admitted that winning the tournament has been one of their greatest achievements.
Daniel S. Hoffman earned his LL.B.= degree from the University of Denver College of Law in 1958.
Among his many accomplishments, Hoffman became the youngest person appointed to be the City of Denver’s Manager of Safety in 1963.
Hoffman participated in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. He also served as an adviser to Robert F. Kennedy in his presidential campaign.
Along with being emeritus and professor emeritus at the University of Denver College of Law, he served as dean from 1978-84.
Starting a new tradition of the memorial cup, the Moot Court Board sought to make sure the event was something that would be memorable and would make Hoffman proud.
“I’m so grateful to be part of the DU community, and I want to give back something that will be remembered for years to come,” said Jason Pock, co-chair of the Moot Court Board.
“We’re trying to blow past competitions out of the water,” said Pock, in preparation for the event. “We keep saying it’s going to be better than 10 Super Bowls. Altogether I think anyone would agree that this event was a runaway hit.”
