On January 6, six students simulated one of the most important parts of our government- the judicial system. Michael Zerr, Cat Dietrich, Dalton Harris, Grace Weaver, Harrison King, MaKenzie Llewelyn, Sofia Schuller, Brenna Lindsay and Brooke Gooding are all members of the Mock Trial team, and for the first time in a long time, they’re winning.

This year’s case is a civil suit. The plaintiff is a fictional Sarah Perez, who, after suffering severe brain trauma in a lacrosse game, sued her lacrosse coach for putting her in the game.

The plaintiff’s argument relies on three witnesses and three lawyers who interview those witnesses before the defense. The defense then interviews cross examines those witnesses. This process happens again with the the defense’s witnesses. Each team has  six students who attend the trials. It is the job of students like Brenna Lindsay to either play the part of a witness or the part of a lawyer.

Lindsay played the witness Tobin O’Rielly, the former coach of Sarah Perez. In the January 6 match Lindsay won the All-Star Witness award. Sophia Schuller won the All-Star Attorney award. Both were on the side of the plaintiff.

This is the first win in the second year that Mrs. Jaime Hendi has advised the club. It is easy to see that Hendi’s background in law is showing in the superb performance of these students. Hendi graduated from the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University and practiced law in Maryland for almost 20 years. She is an inactive member of the Maryland and DC bar. 

Having this kind of expertise has clearly helped the members of Mock Trial and the enthusiasm among the students involved is very real.

“You get to argue over real situations as if the situations revolved around you,” said Lindsay. “The trial is nerve racking but exciting because you know your lawyer has your back if you mess up.”

While the enthusiasm and expertise have gone a long way, the team came up short in their most recent trial on January 14, 2016. In this most recent trial Hugh Norko, Maria Pellicer,  and Garret Gilespy were lawyers for the defense and interviewed Ryan Stark, Isabella Madrid and Patrick Conboy who played the witnesses for the defense. Despite the loss, there was still a lot of excitement and the team competed honorably. Maria Pellicier and Isabella Madrid won All-Star Lawyer and All-Star Witness.

The team practices and competes on Wednesdays. You can  see the team compete in trial at the courthouse in the city of Frederick on Wednesdays. Be there before 5 because doors close and you won’t want to miss the judicial drama.