A judge on a competitive cooking show was poisoned. Now the courts are trying to find if two competitors on the show are guilty of poisoning the judge due to a history they both had with him or if it’s just some big mistake.
This case never happened, it was fabricated and given intricate details in witness statements, timelines, and police sketches all made with one common goal, training the next generation of the courts.
The way in which they go about this is by setting up clubs and providing schools with case packets and training to prepare the classes to go to court houses across the nation and run through the case with stand ins for defendants, prosecution, lawyers on both sides and many other roles.
“[We] go to practices after school [twice a week],” Sean Oksner (‘26) said. “We have 2 competitions per group (prosecution/defense).”
During competition each team presents the case from both sides providing the necessary witnesses and deploying lawyers trained on their half of the case.
“I have done lawyer work for both sides, plus played an actor role as a witness,” Colin Martel (‘27) said.
This whole program was made to help people learn about the courts and the legal system. However this isn’t the only advantage participants gain.
“I’ve gained a good entry on my college apps,” Oksner said. “But also a sense of community, a stronger self esteem, and the pride of knowing I was able to have fun while performing for my team.”
Mock Trial as a club and as a program brings people together while teaching. Leading to growth as individuals, emotions, and knowledge.
“I like getting to hang out with friends and practicing for a potential career,” Martel said.
With many years of competition at our school and many more to come the mock trial team keeps growing and getting better to take on the ever changing challenges.
“I have done it since freshman year,” Oksner said. “It’s fun to be in character and think on your feet, it’s a high pressure improv.”
With this year’s competition coming to a close they say goodbye to graduating members and prepare for new ones who will come in next year to learn, grow, and compete. If interested in Mock Trial visit Ethan Silva (room 309) next year to join and get started.
