This year, YLHS started our very own Mock Trial Team. The brand new team has been working hard for competition in November with coaches Ms. Tully and Ms. Toxqi. Additionally, Mr. Kunal Jain and Mr. Paul Deese are attorney coaches that have come onto campus to help out the team. The attorney coaches come in during every practice to help out the team as well. In fact, Ms. Tully has had previous experience with Mock Trial during her time at Esperanza High School, so the team is in very good hands.

Mock Trial is a program for students in high school, college, and law school, to have a taste of real court proceedings. Students will play every role except the judge and jury. YLHS’s Mock Trial team is split in half: half the students are the prosecution team and the other half are the defense. These students will play everyone from the attorney to the witness to the bailiff, and each role requires careful understanding of the judicial process.

“Even though our practices are long, they’re actually really fun. We’ve all bonded as a team, and we are definitely going to try out best,” says Connie Huang (12). As a brand new team, these students will be putting in extra time to understand all the details of the courts as well as follow the competition guidelines. These students practice 12 hours a week, including a Sunday practice.

This year’s case is People v. Shem, an art theft. The team will be closely going over the entire case packet and practicing the case for the next month. The case centers on an art student, who supposedly stole art from his professor. Within the case, there is also the pretrial argument about the Fourth Amendment. The varying Mock Trial cases from year to year always focus on current judicial debates, such as the Fourth Amendment argument about the scope of searches and seizures.

Kelsey Cooper (12) says, “Mock Trial is one the the most fun things I’ve participated in, but, at the same time, [it’s] a lot of work. It’s definitely worth it.” Cooper is one of the Pre-Trial Attorneys and Marty McCulloch, one of the witnesses.

The team members are: Connor Borden (12), Sarah Chen (12), Kelsey Cooper (12), Alexa Elkabbara (12), Jarod Graham (9), Connie Huang (12), Jace Jenican (12), Lilian Nasr (12), Andy Nguyen (12), Darshan Patel (11), Roshni Patel (12), Nikhil Patolia (10), Dani Robertson (12), Star Runge (11), Miya Sheker (12), Allison Tearjen (12), and Liz Tipping (12).
With competition starting in less than a month, these Mustangs have a lot of hard work set ahead of them. However, they are all hopeful and confident in their own expertise.

Good Luck!