Executive Board
President: Jaedon Huie
Jaedon Huie is a rising senior majoring in financial economics with solid plans of attending law school to become a corporate attorney. His senior season will be his fourth and final year with UMBC Mock Trial. Jaedon started mock trial at UMBC in his first semester as an attorney and has served as a captain each year on the team. Starting last year, Jaedon began trying witness roles as well. Jaedon won a top attorney award at the Blue Jay Invitational tournament at Elizabethtown College and plans to keep them coming this year! When Jaedon isn’t mocking or reading case material, he spends his time tutoring college students in math and economics and coaching the local high school mock trial team.
Awards:
- Outstanding Attorney: Elizabethtown College Blue Jay Invitational, 2016
Vice-President: Summer Akhtar
Summer Akhtar is a rising senior double majoring in Financial Economics and Political Science. Her favorite thing to do in her spare time is eat, but since she can’t make a career out of that, her plan is to become an attorney after graduating in the Spring of 2018. Though she’s not entirely sure what kind of attorney she wants to be, she fell in love with trial advocacy two years ago, her first year on UMBC’s Mock Trial Team. For the past two years, she has acted as a defense attorney. What once started out as a hobby has now become her passion, and she can’t wait to see where Mock Trial takes her! When she’s not constantly refreshing her internet browser eagerly awaiting case changes, you can find her working at the Career Center, studying, sleeping, or Netflixing (probably one of the latter two).
Awards:
- Outstanding Attorney, Johns Hopkins University Blue Jay Invitational, 2017
Treasurer: Alex Ezigbo
Awards:
- All-American Witness: 2017 National Championship Tournament
Secretary: Kaitlyn Kauffman
Kaitlyn Kauffman is a rising sophomore Sondheim Scholar double majoring in Political Science and Economics from Cumberland, MD. She fell in love with Mock Trial her sophomore year of high school and she has performed both as an attorney and a witness in the following years. Although unsure of how she wants to spend her time after receiving her undergraduate degree, she knows that she would like to have some involvement in either government or education. She also has an unhealthy love for student government, playing the trumpet, and volunteering with Reading Partners at Westport Academy.
Awards:
- Outstanding Witness: Temple University Hooter Invitational, 2016
Recruitment Chair: Ethan Hudson
Ethan Hudson is a rising sophomore English major with a minor in Legal Policy. Ethan started doing Mock Trial in high school after encouragement from a classmate. He began as an expert witness and moved his way up a closing attorney spot the next year. Ethan helped Franklin High School reach state finals where they would eventually finish 2nd out of over 120 teams in the state in 2016. Ethan serves as an assistant coach for Catonsville High School Mock Trial and is now an opening attorney on the Defense for UMBC. He recently won his first attorney award as a freshman at the Charm City Classic co-hosted by UMBC and Stevenson University. He hopes this is the first of many and hopes to continue participating in Mock Trial for as long as possible.
Awards:
- Outstanding Attorney: Charm City Classic Mock Trial Invitational, 2017
Seniors
Shoba Kadavil
Shoba Kadavil is a rising senior double majoring in Economics and Political Science. She plans on pursuing law school after she graduates in the Spring of 2018. She stumbled upon UMBC Mock Trial through her roommate and decided to go for it. It’s been three years and she couldn’t imagine her college career without it. As UMBC Mock Trial’s secretary, she has the privilege of using her tech saviness to promote the program through social media. Shoba has performed both as a witness and an attorney and is thrilled to continue growing as a leader. When she’s not mocking, she’s a full-time program director of the Global Brigades Human Rights program at UMBC, where she works with other volunteers and attorneys to provide legal assistance to indigenous communities in Panama. You can also find her tutoring students in math and reading at Kumon or most probably binge-watching Scandal on Netflix.
Lily Felber
Lily Felber is a rising senior who is double majoring in Political Science and Global Studies, with a minor in Arabic Language and Culture. After graduating in 2018, she’d like to join the Peace Corps, attend graduate school, and work in international relations or international human rights. She got involved in mock trial at the suggestion of her best friend, because of mock trial’s similarity to theater, and she completely fell in love with it. The best thing about mock trial for her is its collaborative aspect, in that it’s absolutely crucial for teammates to work together cohesively in order to perform well. She’s also found mock trial to be so helpful in terms of improving public speaking and communication skills. A few things she enjoys doing in her free time are playing piano, volunteering at a local animal shelter, and devouring books. She’s won two awards as a witness, but her impression of Edith Piaf singing the Imperial March from Star Wars has been tragically underappreciated.
Awards:
- Outstanding Witness: Georgetown University Hilltop Invitational, 2017
- All-Region Witness: AMTA Baltimore Regional, 2016
- Outstanding Witness: Charm City Classic Mock Trial Invitational, 2016
Krishna Gohel
Krishna Gohel is a rising senior, majoring in Biological Sciences B.S. and double minoring in Psychology and Entrepreneurship. This is Krishna’s first year on UMBC’s Mock Trial Team and she plans on attending law school after graduating in 2018. She very recently discovered her passion for becoming an attorney through the myriad of experiences she has had through joining the team. With this being her first year ever doing Mock Trial, it has been quite the journey, but she has learned a lot and is eager to see where this decision takes her in life. Outside of Mock Trial, she enjoys singing, volunteering, and public speaking.
Juniors
Sam Dhawan
Sam Dhawan is a rising junior at UMBC and is currently studying Financial Economics and Legal Policy. He plans to graduate from UMBC in 2019 and attend law school. This is Sam’s second season as a mocker and he is a captain of the B team. He won a top attorney award at the Elizabethtown Blue Jay Invitational and became the first mocker at UMBC to earn a perfect 20 ranks as an attorney. Sam is also part of the first B team at UMBC to earn an ORCS bid (which took many, many, hours of hard work and dedication). Outside of Mock Trial and school work, Sam enjoys watching the Washington sports teams let him down year after year.
Awards:
- Outstanding Attorney: Elizabethtown College Blue Jay Invitational, 2016
Sophomores
Nihir Nanavaty
Nihir Nanavaty is a sophomore at UMBC, studying Political Science, Music, and Legal Policy. Nihir hopes to graduate UMBC in May 2019. This is Nihir’s first season as a member of the mock trial team, but he has had experience with Mock Trial through high school competition. Outside of mock trial, Nihir is involved in music and theatre, and is a member of the Pre-Law society. Nihir has been studying Operatic singing for the past four and a half years with several private instructors in the area and at the University. Outside of school and extracurriculars, Nihir is an absolute diehard Washington Wizards, Washington Redskins, and Washington Nationals fanatic. Nihir hopes to one day use all these skills learned through mock trial and his time at UMBC and attend law school.
Awards:
- Outstanding Witness: Charm City Classic Mock Trial Invitational, 2017
Justin Connor
Justin Connor is a sophomore majoring in Philosophy with an eventual goal of going to law school. Justin did Mock Trial all four years of high school and was actually planning on taking a break from it in college. But then Justin met members of the team and they were so inviting and encouraging that Justin decided to try out anyway and ended up making the team. College Mock Trial is almost a different ball game and if it wasn’t for the help of Justin’s teammates, Justin would have definitely gotten lost trying to figure out how to play. Justin hopes to be a friend and mentor to future Mockers, just as this year’s team members have been to him.
