Weinberg freshman Biren Bhansali said he was surprised when he won one of the highest-ranking All-American Attorney awards at the American Mock Trial Association’s 2011 National Championship Tournament.
“It was a pretty crazy feeling,” Bhansali said. “It was definitely a huge shock.”
The freshman, who started participating in mock trials when he was a freshman in high school, received 19 ranks from judges at the tournament. The only other student attorney to receive this ranking was University of Virginia junior Ben Wallace.
There are six attorneys in each trial, Bhansali said. Judges rank the attorneys from one through six, and if a judge ranks a student number one, he gets five rankings. If he is ranked number two, he gets four rankings, and the scores decrease as ranks decrease.
Bhansali, however, was given five rankings by three judges and four rankings from one other judge. These rankings are based on the legal merit of arguments and presentation skills.
“When I came into college, I was freaked out at how good everyone was,” Bhansali said.
At NU, Mock Trial students are divided into separate teams, with the A-team being the most competitive. Bhansali was placed on the A-team during Winter Quarter, and said he wanted to prove to the team that they didn’t include a freshman for nothing.
“I did a lot of learning Fall Quarter,” he said.
One of Bhansali’s greatest strengths, he said, is his talent at closing arguments. He said public speaking has always been one of his loves.
“(The) closing argument is a very impassioned argument. It’s a lot of fire and brimstone, getting really loud and getting really animated,” he said. “There’s no better feeling than being in total command of the courtroom. It’s truly the moment where you can take control of the entire situation.”
He said his weaknesses, however, include creating quick responses to objection arguments.
“It’s hard to make very good objection arguments on the fly,” he said.
However, one of Bhansali’s co-captains, SESP junior Alyssa Postman, said he is skilled when it comes to quick responses.
“He is incredibly poised and confident, and he’s very smooth,” she said. “When we’re in trial, when something unexpected happens, he can act as if he knows exactly what’s he doing.”
Mock Trial President Jared Hoffman said he remembers Bhansali from tryouts at the beginning of the year.
“He was definitely one of the people that stood out to me,” the Medill senior said. “He’s charismatic, he’s flashy, and he’s incredibly skilled. He was one of the best, if not the best, people to try out.”
Bhansali said his dream is to win the National Championship as a team during his remaining years at NU. Although he said there is always room for more personal improvement and there is no perfection in mock trial, Postman said she has high hopes for the freshman.
“Not only is it a great accomplishment in itself, but since he’s only a freshman, to have done that already…if he keeps improving, by the time he’s a senior he’ll be unstoppable,” she said.
