Buffalo State College Mock Trial
Coaching Staff
We have an experienced coaching staff who have diverse backgrounds including participation in and coaching mock trial and moot court. Here are the coaches you will see regularly meetings.
David Ben-Merre, Ph.D., Faculty Advisor
David is an Associate Professor in the Department of English, teaching classes on 20th-century literature, literary theory, and poetry. Born and raised in the Bronx, he went on to Baltimore where he received his B.A. and M.A. from Johns Hopkins University before heading to Brown University in Providence, where he received his doctorate. His primary research interests include modernism, poetics, intellectual history, and interdisciplinary studies. As a lifelong mock trial enthusiast, competitor, judge, and a current AMTA board member, he is delighted to be a part of Buffalo State mock trial.
Jessica L. Noto, Esq., Coach
Jessica, a Rochester, New York native, is a 2014 Federal Honors Program recipient working as a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board. She graduated in 2014 magna cum laude from the University at Buffalo Law School with concentrations in Civil Litigation and Criminal Law. She also graduated magna cum laude from Seton Hall University where she triple majored in English Literature, Creative Writing, and Social and Behavioral Sciences, and minored in Criminal Justice and Psychology. There, she founded SHU’s Mock Trial team, and led them to AMTA’s National Championship Tournament. In law school, Jessica won several law school competitions including the Charles S. Desmond Constitutional Law Moot Court, the Jessup International Law Moot Court, and the criminal trial technique competition. This is her thirteenth year being involved with a mock trial team.
Henry A. Zomerfeld, Esq., Assistant Coach
Henry, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is an associate at Wolfgang & Weinmann, LLP. He is a graduate of the University at Buffalo Law School with a concentration in Civil Litigation and is a Buffalo State alumnus, where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Legal Studies, cum laude. During his four years as captain of the Buffalo State team, Henry earned three ranking attorney awards, one as the top attorney of the UB Queen City invitational tournament. He also earned several prestigious awards during his law school career including the ranking as the 7th best oral advocate in the world (out of approximately 600 advocates) in the Jessup International Moot Court competition, the Robert J. Connelly Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy, and is a member of the Order of Barristers legal honor society for excellence oral advocacy.