San Rafael Mock Trial Team to Receive Special Recognition from City

The following was submitted for publication by the Marin County Office of Education:

On Monday, March 2, at 7:00 p.m., at San Rafael City Hall located at 1400 Fifth Avenue, the San Rafael City Council will present a formal Resolution of Appreciation to the 2015 San Rafael High School Mock Trial Team to recognize its amazing achievements in the Marin County Mock Trial Competition. The fledgling team, founded just four years ago, has quickly risen, through the hard work of its students and coaches to become one of the most competitive teams in the county.

Over two consecutive Saturdays, culminating in the final competition on February 7, San Rafael’s team competed in 6 criminal trials in the case of People v. Shem. They argued legal issues relating to the defendant Shem’s Fourth Amendment Rights to be protected against unreasonable searches and seizures. In addition, they litigated the charge of Grand Larceny against Shem. The team appeared before Superior Court Judges and was scored by local attorneys. Advancing to the final rounds of competition, the Dawgs won their trials against Redwood, Branson and Terra Linda High Schools. The final courtroom battles were extremely competitive as San Rafael took on Tamalpais High School, whose win this year made them the Marin County Champions for the 20th year running.

The San Rafael Mock Trial Team demonstrated skill, teamwork and endurance as they argued in 4 separate trials on the final day. Impressive!

This year’s team members were: Lana Apple*, John Diaz*, Adina Epstein*, Zoe Epstein, Sarah Goldberg*, Berna Idriz, Alejandra Jimenez, Molly Laviano*, Edmund T. Leibert III*, Jesus Parra, Ethan Pletcher, Braulio Resendiz, David Rucker, Sebastian Vaziri*, Adam Vogel and Arielle Zoken*.

San Rafael High School’s Mock Trial is led by founder, parent and attorney, Mollee Sue Zoken, along with teacher-coach Bill Allan and volunteer attorneys Rob Epstein, Len Rifkind, and Julia McIlory. The coaches dedicate many hours of their time to help students to prepare a fictional case drafted by the California Constitutional Rights Foundation and take it to trial in front of real judges at the courthouse. The students take on roles from lawyers for both the prosecution and defense, to bailiff, witness, and time clerk and learn about our criminal justice system. Through this experience, students improve their communication, public speaking, and critical thinking skills. San Rafael High is proud of its ethnically and economically diverse Mock Trial team which includes a team member with special needs. As a team, they have developed a sense of camaraderie where each member learns the importance of their role to the team’s overall success.

Parents, students and attorneys who are interested in learning more about the San Rafael High Mock Trial program can contact Bill Allan at sallan@srcs.org or Mollee Sue Zoken at srmocktrial@gmail.com and look for additional information on the San Rafael High School Website in the Parents section or at http://sanrafael.srcs.org/mock_trial. Well done, Dawgs!!

*Denotes team member received special performance award in the Marin County Competition