President

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Justin Xu is a 2L from Atlanta, Georgia. He competed for University of Georgia’s undergraduate mock trial team for four years. In his free time, he enjoys watching college football (Go Dawgs!) and lying down.

 

 

 

VP of Travel

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

VP of Treasury

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Kyle Parker is a 3L from Naperville, Illinois. He studied biology and Spanish at Case Western in sunny Cleveland, Ohio where he competed on the mock trial team. After college he spent two years teaching on the somewhat sunnier island of O’ahu. Now he’s ready to return to having all four seasons and spending too much time doing mock trial.

 

VP of Social Media, Events, and Recruitment

Pronouns: he, him, his

Hudson Patterson is a 2L from Seattle, Washington. Before law school, Hudson competed with the Yale Mock Trial Association and coached mock trial at the high school level. When not pretending to be a lawyer, Hudson enjoys playing video games and listening to pop music. Hudson has worked at a criminal psychology research lab focusing on young people, and is broadly interested in issues related to juvenile justice.

VP of Fundraising

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

 

Kate Hostal is a 3L from the sunny state of Arizona! When she’s not wondering why it’s no longer perpetually 95 degrees outside, Kate enjoys weightlifting, doing puzzles, and attending concerts. Kate can’t wait to begin competing with HLSMTA, though she’s hoping someone will eventually tell her who we are mocking and who is on trial!

 

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

Alec Winshel is a 3L from Los Angeles. After one too many sunburns, he left the ideal coast to study Business & Data Science at chilly New York University. He realized the error of his ways and returned home to work in advertising. Alec has competed in mock trial during both high school and college, but his palms still get sweaty just before making an objection. In his spare time he enjoys running, cooking various soups, and playing basketball, compete at Trial By Combat 2020. Before coming to Harvard, he also worked as a Trial Preparation Assistant with the New York County District Attorney’s Office in the Special Victims Bureau.

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Taylor Diggs is a 2L from Scotch Plains, New Jersey. On campus, she is the Co-Chair of HBLSA Public Interest Careers Committee, Outside Articles Editor and Secondary Student Writing Editor for the Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, and a member of the Women’s Law Association Resource Committee. Prior to law school, she worked on low-income housing issues as paralegal casehandler within the Legal Aid Society of New York, Civil Law Reform Unit. During her 1L summer, she interned in the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General’s Civil Rights Section. Taylor is passionate about Civil Rights law and plans to pursue a career in litigation. 

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Rahul Jayaraman is a 2L from Phoenix, Arizona. After spending two decades wondering what in the world autumn was, he moved to Boston to find out. The price of that decision, however, was that he had to start law school. In his free time, Rahul enjoys playing volleyball, cooking a good meal with friends, and talking way too damn much. At HLS, he’s involved in Harvard Defenders, the South Asian Law Students Association, and the National Lawyer’s Guild.

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Raahema Durrani is a 1L from Pittsburgh, PA. Before law school, she competed for 4 years on UVA’s undergraduate mock trial team. After college, Raahema moved to New York and worked in management consulting for 3 years. In her free time, Raahema enjoys trying new restaurants, doing yoga, and spending time with family & friends.

 

 

 

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

Juliana Mayer is a 1L from the Chicago suburbs. Before law school, she studied public policy at Duke University and worked in health policy research in D.C. On campus, she is involved in the Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Women’s Law Association. In her free time, you can find her playing guitar, practicing yoga, and preparing her Survivor audition tape. 

 

 

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

Angela Li is a long-awaited 3L from sunny San Diego, California. Admitted through Harvard’s Junior Deferral Program, Angela spent her pre-law days as a Computer Science major at Caltech and a software engineer at Facebook (“Meta”). Though she spent a significant amount of time doing Congressional Debate in high school, neither Caltech nor Meta were establishments that had a Mock Trial team, so it has taken Angela quite a while to get a shot at her very own Legally Blonde moment. She is coming for it now! Angela’s passions include advocacy for underrepresented minorities, wondering what her dog is thinking (likely nothing), telling potentially-embellished Silicon Valley stories, and doing outdoor workouts.

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

 

 

Varun Aggarwal is a 2L from Orlando, FL. After leaving the swamp to attend Georgia Tech, Varun decided that life as a software developer was too good, so he downgraded to law school. Varun is involved with the Journal of Law and Technology and the Cyberlaw Clinic.

 

 

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

 

 

Kat Finseth is a 2L from California, Kentucky, and Oregon, depending on the day. She competed in mock trial in both high school and college, but honestly spent most of her time at the University of Oregon rooting for Ducks football. Outside of mock trial, she enjoys easy hikes with great views, figure skating, and losing with her intramural soccer team.  

 

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

James Carney is a 1L from Cleveland, Ohio. Prior to HLS, he studied at American University’s School of Public Affairs, where he competed for their undergraduate mock trial team, researched tax policy and congress, briefly worked on Capitol Hill, and loved every minute of living in DC. James is an aspiring public defender, and is passionate about criminal justice issues and using tax policy as an antipoverty tool. In his free time, he enjoys weightlifting, playing pickup basketball, and telling people all about how much he loves Cleveland. He can’t wait to get back to spending way too much time prepping for fake trials with HLSMTA. 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

Zeqing Li is a 1L from Beijing, China. Before law school, Zeqing studied History, Biophysics, and Physics at Johns Hopkins University, where he captained their mock trial team. He has also judged various high school mock trial tournaments in China. In his free time, he loves to watch and play soccer—he is a huge fan of Arsenal, whose match results on a weekend can often dictate Zeqing’s mood for the entire week.

 

 

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Brayden Soffa is a 1L from Allen, Texas. Before HLS, he studied political science at Boston University and competed in mock trial as a member of BUMTO. In his free time, Brayden enjoys obsessing over BU hockey and attempting to play hockey himself. Brayden hopes to go into criminal defense after law school.

 

 

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Elias Neibart is a 3L from New Jersey. He received his MPhil from the University of Cambridge and his undergraduate degree from Emory University. At Emory, he competed on the mock trial team for four years, and was selected to compete at Trial By Combat 2020. Before coming to Harvard, he also worked as a Trial Preparation Assistant with the New York County District Attorney’s Office in the Special Victims Bureau.

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Kieran Clark is a 2L from Asheville, North Carolina. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Davidson College (of Steph Curry fame) and his master’s at SOAS University of London. Kieran spent his 1L summer working at the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, and he hopes to pursue a career in criminal prosecution. In his spare time, you can usually find him on a hike, reading philosophy, or listening to heavy metal with the volume too high.

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

Celyn (“Kellin”) is an aspiring trial advocate and IP litigator. Raised by a family of indigent criminal defense attorneys, Celyn is no stranger to what it means to be a lawyer. Celyn lives for the challenge and satisfaction of advocating for others. With a background in electrical and computer engineering, Celyn enjoys solving hard problems, technical or legal. As a member of HLS Mock Trial, Celyn loves the opportunity to work with his brilliant teammates to improve his persuasive advocacy skills and help the whole team shine.

 

 

Pronouns: he, him, his

 

Dan Cohen is a 1L from Jamison, Pennsylvania. He studied Economics and Security and Risk Analysis at Penn State University, but spent most of his time there competing with the mock trial team. After graduating, Dan worked for two years as a grants management consultant while assisting his high school mock trial program. If not studying or working on mock trial, Dan is probably on a walk, making homemade pasta sauce, or befriending the cashier at Homegoods while purchasing his seventh candle of the month. 

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

Greta Maras is a 1L from Naperville, Illinois. She studied international studies, political science, German and environmental studies at Johns Hopkins University, where she competed on the mock trial team and graduated in 2023. She worked at the Baltimore Office of the Public Defender before coming to HLS. On campus she is involved with the Prison Legal Assistance Project and the Women’s Law Association. She enjoys running and baking in her free time, usually in that order.e after law school.

 

Pronouns: she, her, hers

 

Spencer Thieme is a 1L from Seattle, WA (somehow) on her 9th year of mock trial. She competed for University of Washington her freshman year before transferring and joining Cornell Mock Trial. As a true Seattleite she loves overcast weather, lives off of Trader Joes, and probably drinks too much coffee. She also takes great pride in her ability to find hidden study spots on campus.