By Peter Mikhael
After qualifying for State less than a week before the competition, the Mock Trial team gathered their case files at the George Allen Court House for a final run and placed third.
“I attended a few rounds at Regionals and State, and I thought they were excellent,” principal Charles Bruner said.
In October, the team received information related to a fictional civil defamation case. After learning both sides of the case study – the prosecution and defense sides – the students had to play the roles of both attorneys and witnesses in a mock trial organized by the Dallas Bar Association Mock Trial Committee.
At Regionals, the team did not initially qualify for the State competition because they did not place in the top three. Three weeks later, Law Magnet director Alexis Stern was notified that the team would qualify as a sudden wild card – a slot in the competition that needed to be filled.
“Stern received an e-mail from the mock trial coordinator telling us we were the wild card,”junior mock trial captain Jackie Brewer said. ”Essentially, it’s like pulling a name out of a hat.”
The state competition is a series of four rounds for all schools. After three rounds on Friday and one on Saturday, four teams advanced as finalists into the next round. The winner of the two semi-final rounds went on to the finals.
Individual participants were rated on a scale of 1-10 points based on the persuasiveness, logic and organization of the students’ presentations and the intuitiveness of the questions and responses.
With only days to prepare, the team worked the entire weekend before the competition and practiced before and after school the week of State. The students were also blocked on Wednesday and practiced all day during school.
“The State competition was very exciting,” Brewer said. “We did very well considering we lost three weeks of practice that the other teams got.”
With only days of preparation, Bruner says the team performed very well.
“It was easy to tell a quality team, and we had one,” Bruner said. “Their homework on the case paid off as they called teams on the facts. They also had quick responses for opponents and could defend or attack any position. All were exceptional in their roles.”