Students sit at the bench in the SLO County courthouse, but they’re not the ones on trial. They portray characters, the lawyers questioning them are also students, and it’s a competition against another school.
Mock Trial is a competition with a made-up case in which students act as lawyers and witnesses. Acting, memorization, and public speaking are the main focuses within the competition. For a lot of students, Mock Trial is a way to strengthen applications as many participants hope to pursue a future career in law.
“Sometimes [there are] students who really are interested in going on to law,” Mock Trial Advisor and AP American Government teacher Ethan Silva said. “A lot of people have left Mock Trial and go on to school to try and become lawyers or in law enforcement.”
Participants meet twice a week in Silva’s classroom after school to discuss the official 90-page case packet. This way, students will be able to work together to know how they will respond to different questions, and know their role well.
Sean Oksner (‘26) is an expert witness—a person who is an expert in the case—and in his second year participating.
“Outside of [club meetings], we have to read over the entire case packet, which is like a 90 page document, which outlines all the rules, facts and [specific information],” Oksner said. “We have to look over our specific witness statements.”
In order for students to be able to answer their questions properly during a competition, they have to become well-acquainted with their witness statements.
“I read mine, like eight or nine times, just to know everything,” Oksner said. “Then [you and] your lawyer come up with questions, to ask to help your side, and fight the other side.”
Competitions take place inside the SLO County Courthouse, with real lawyers acting as judges. The competitions are divided by teams, prosecution and defense. Students play the roles of lawyers and witnesses. Every competition works generally in the same way.
“[There are] four witnesses that’ll speak on behalf of the defendant—the person who’s accused of the crime— and try to show that they’re not guilty of [the charge],” Silva said. “Then on the prosecution, there’ll be four witnesses who are going to speak for the victim saying, this person broke the law and they harmed the victim.”
Students witnesses speak based only on the case packet provided, and prep with their lawyers so that they know how to properly respond when asked a question.
“Each team will also have between three and four lawyers, and the lawyers are the ones who ask questions,” Silva said. “[Lawyers] have to know the rules of the court. They have to know how the law works. So they’re the ones who are actually kind of moving the trial.”
The way the case is structured makes it so the verdict isn’t set, but rather for the students to be able to argue either side of the case, and for either side to be able to win. A judge presumes over the trial and decides the outcome.
“[The judges] take it really seriously, and it’s really cool getting real life experience [in] a really important place,” Oksner said
In order to be as prepared as possible for competitions, students practice many times so that they will feel prepared.
“We’ll practice public speaking [and] working with your witness statement [a lot] to make sure you don’t forget anything,” Silva said. “We also do lots of fun stuff, [like] games that help you with public speaking.”
Though the AGHS Mock Trial team only made it to the quarter finals this year, the team has won in previous years.
“Since COVID, we’ve been rebuilding our team, [and] we’ve made it to the semifinals twice in the last three years,” Silva said. “Prior to that, AG has won, in the last 25 years, maybe five times. From 2017 to 2019, we won three years in a row at the county level and went to the state competition.”
In the future the AGHS Mock Trial team hopes to continue growing the team, and increasing their skills in public speaking, acting, as well as their knowledge in law.
