Club Spotlight: Mock Trial
By KAI GOWDA, NAOMI MOSKOVICH, and AMANI SHETTY
Mock Trial Team B, Winners of the Peter E. Champagne Invitational
It is 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday, and 26 Exonians, barely awake, with dark circles under their eyes, pack onto a yellow school bus. For the next two days, these Exonians will compete against other teams and themselves to win the title of the best mock trial team in the country.
The Phillips Exeter Mock Trial Association consists of three teams: A, B, and C. The A team has nine members: senior Selim Kim, senior Charles Potjer, senior Michael Nardone, upper Matt Grossman, lower Tamar Moskovich, upper CJ Smith, lower Ethan Benenson, upper Sophie Wagner, and prep Kai Gowda. The B team has nine members: upper Angelina Gong, senior Valentina Zhang, senior Jenna Wang, upper Caspar Bailey, lower Lauren Lee, lower Anna Byun, upper Rohit Kantamneni, lower Olivia Braham, and upper Max Mantel. The C team has eight members: senior Colin Jung, upper Sama Mouzannar, lower Victoria Vanderslice, lower Andrew Gould, lower Zoe Miller, upper Emma Sordi, lower Cecily Reed, and lower Forrest Zeng.
Mock Trial is an extracurricular program where students compete against other high schools in an imitation trial. The competitions are split into three categories: local, state, and national. For each competition, every school is given a criminal or civil case to prepare and present to the court. Each team is provided a booklet with all the case information required to argue for both the prosecution and defense of the accused.
Tamar Moskovich, a lower on the A team, explained, “We have to prepare for both sides of a case, since we don’t find out if we will be acting as prosecution or defense until the day of.”
Each side has three different ways to deliver their arguments. Opening and closing statements occur at the beginning and end of the rounds. These statements come from the lawyers and usually try to summarize the side’s story. Direct examinations are another form of speech, pre-prepared dialogue of one of their own teammate’s witnesses, in order to add more detail to the story. Jung, a co-head on the C team, described the third form, cross examinations: “Lawyers will ask the other side’s witnesses questions in an attempt to expose weaknesses in their story and reduce their credibility.”
The Mock Trial team consists of two different roles; witnesses and lawyers. Witnesses are instructed to follow an affidavit, which is the case given at the start of each tournament year.
Upper Sama Mouzannar, a co-head on the C team, explained, “Being a witness, you have more leeway, not to bend the rules, but to make it creative and fun so you can express your own personality through your character.”
Lawyers follow more distinct legal rules, and include objections and case stipulations in their statements. Anna Byun, a lower on the B team, spoke about her role as an attorney, saying, “The essence of my role is to defend my case - whether I am representing prosecution or defense — while simultaneously weakening opposing counsel’s.” Mock Trial teams are comprised of between six to nine teammates, three of whom will act as attorneys and three who will act as witnesses during each round. Additional members participate as timekeepers.
Jung commented on the competition between Exeter teams, “It’s a point of pride for us C team leaders that we historically have finished second or third at States and within 5 points (out of 300) of A team in most years.” In short, the Academy team’s biggest competitor is themselves. On almost all occasions, Exeter “sweeps” the competition, meaning that the three teams take first, second and third place.
Disbursement Manager Lori Novell, the Mock Trial club advisor, attends all of the tournaments and has been able to get to know many students involved in Mock Trial on campus. “The one thing that I enjoy the most of being an advisor for the Mock Trial team is watching some of these youngsters [grow] from being preps all the way up to seniors,” Novell said. “[They] graduate in the way that they mature, both on a personal level and through their academics and following them even after that into college. There are several of the students from prior years that I still keep in touch with, and am able to give guidance to and to mentor. Their wanting to come back to me to help them write letters for colleges and different things like that is really definitely a reason why I like to do what I do.”
At tryouts, co-heads search for a variety of qualities when picking members of each team. Mouzannar shared that the important components of a Mock Trial participant include “being articulate, having a sense of poise, and being confident in what you’re saying, even if you’re not fully confident of the material.”
“The process to tryout is famously competitive; we will always have to cut an overwhelming majority of candidates. However the process is certainly not random — I can attest to the criteria with some exactitude, having gone through around 60 tryouts this year and having evaluated each one for the C Team,” Jung added.
Competition mornings start before the sun rises, usually around 6:00 a.m. Teams gather in large auditoriums and wait for competition rules to be explained and schedules to be passed out. Schedules include competing teams and where each competition will occur. Upon arrival in the courtrooms, teams present their opening statements to the court and witnesses are brought to the stand. Witnesses share their direct examinations and cross-examinations. At the end, the judging panel and presiding judge will determine which team has the stronger argument and score them. Scoring techniques are precise and depend on the organization and level of the competition. The Peter. E. Champagne Invitational (formerly and informally referred to as BGS) is the only competition that has been held this year so far. B team won first place, A team second, and C team third. BGS features the same schools and is good practice for the state-level competition in February, which must be qualified for through the Invitational. Jung explained that “the Invitationals are more laid back. It’s the first time the students get to argue their case for the year. And then states, which are actually coming up in February, are much more competitive between the different teams. And that is ultimately where one team gets selected to go to nationals. And when you go to nationals, it’s a whole new ball game where you’re competing against teams from all over the country who are number one in their state.”
Despite the dedication needed for Mock Trial, it offers many rewards, including new relationships and memories. “I’ve been part of many clubs at Exeter, but Mock Trial is truly the gold standard for every other club on campus because of its community. Through Mock Trial, I’ve made close friendships with people I would otherwise never have met. Moreover, I’ve had mentors and leaders who have changed my life — by teaching me how to be a better and more confident speaker, teammate, and person,” Jung said.
“I feel like our experience doing Mock Trial together, especially spending all that time outside of classes together, really helped us grow and become friends because we got to learn this other competitive side of each other that made it really exciting to work alongside,” said Mouzannar. “And, as a whole, you get really close to the whole Mock Trial community because you’re spending so much time outside of classes together and you get to know a lot of different people that you wouldn’t know outside of the club.”
“I remember when I had a dance performance one weekend, towards the beginning of the term, I was new to the team and a bit intimidated, but I was so surprised when I saw my entire Mock Trial team sitting in the audience to support me, not only as a team member, but as a friend as well,” said Moskovich.
“I am deeply grateful for the friendships I have formed through Mock Trial. The nine of us on the B team have formed a strong bond throughout our time together, whether that is through triumphs or defeats. It is exciting to work alongside people who are equally as dedicated and determined as me,” Byun added.
Jung concluded, “On the whole, joining this club, despite its difficulty and competitiveness, has been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my whole life. I cannot express how much a prospective candidate will gain from such a peerless experience. I encourage all to join us in-house this spring, and try out for a team next
