By Caitlin Chung ’20

The Middle School Mock Trial team’s season came to a close on Nov. 9^th. The defense team won their verdict but did not advance to the next level. Every year, the students on the Mock Trial team are presented with a case to solve. This year, after the preparation stage of practicing in their prosecution and defense teams, the team traveled downtown to the Los Angeles Superior Courthouse to compete against different schools in front of a real judge.
The case study was a human trafficking and false imprisonment case where a Tanterran immigrant worker, Lin Stark, was underpaid and locked in a room at his work place.
“It was a really fun experience, and I learned a lot about how the law process works. I think overall we had a great season and that the group learned a lot,” Matthew Lee ‘21, who acted as a witness, said.
Advisor and history teacher Lauren Nichols ‘06 said that the teaching experience for this year’s group seemed to be much more efficient because there were many older students with past experience.
“Every year I was fortunate enough to work with some great kids. What was nice about this year was that I had multiple kids who were ninth graders who started the team as seventh graders, so it was three years of work that culminated in this experience. It was great seeing them teach the younger students,” Nichols said.
She also said that although the team did not advance, she was still proud of her students.
“I think all the kids had fun and learned a lot, so for me that’s a win,” Nichols said.
The Mock Trial season will start again mid-September next year with another case presented to the students.