ABRHS Mock Trial Team Achieves Three Wins

For members of the high school’s mock trial team, the third time’s the charm.

In the first two attempts that the students made, they did not move on past the preliminary round.

The twelve-member group won all three of its first-round matches in the current competition. Held at nearby Concord District Court on Jan. 25, Jan. 31 and Feb. 8, 2012, the students bested opponents from Maynard High School, Concord Academy and Ayer-Shirley Regional High School.

The ABRHS team will face another undefeated team, of Acton, in two weeks; the winner will represent the region in the next round of competition.

The mock trial program invites high schools across the state to enter the competition. Starting with about 100 teams participating, advancement is based on whether simulated cases are “won.”

This year’s case is a civil action that examines whether a high school teacher should be held legally accountable for not intervening when a student at her school was bullied.

“This timely topic illustrates the challenging intersection between law and social policy,” according to the Massachusetts Bar Association’s  description of the case.

The “judges” are area attorneys who volunteer their time to preside over the mock court proceedings. Like actual magistrates, they issue rulings from the bench. In addition, they take advantage of opportunities to give feedback during the proceedings. When the “trial” is over, they use a rubric to evaluate the performances of both the plaintiff’s and the defendant’s  representatives.

Total scores determine which team is deemed the winner.

In the contest with Concord Academy, Jim Tabner served as the judge. 

"The final score was decided by one point,” he said. “The teams were very evenly matched.”

The group’s advisor, English teacher Kathy Kennedy, has been impressed with the students’ enthusiasm, work ethic and effectiveness. The group’s co-captains, Meghna Batra and Abha Patil are, said Kennedy, “wonderful leaders.”

Three legal coaches meet with the group on Sunday mornings at the in town. Attorneys Karen Stuntz and Phil Summers and police officer Dan Silva volunteer their time to help prepare the students for the mock court experience.

Batra, Patil and the coaches assigned roles to each of the dozen students; some are witnesses, others are attorneys.

A student witness is given a narrative describing his or her role in the case.  When taking the stand, the witness must answer questions based only on the material that has been provided.

Summers’ motivation for coaching, he said, “is to spark an interest in the law and give our students the advocacy skills that will help them be successful in whatever field they pursue.”

“I have seen the tremendous progress that the AB students have made," he said. "Through hard work and determination, they have really come together as a team and excelled at trial advocacy."

Tabner articulated the positive outcomes of student participation in the proceedings.

“Students develop self- confidence through their abilities to think on their feet and make decisions quickly when confronted with difficult situations, such as when they are overruled or the other side is cross examining their witness," he said. "This skill is very important, in my opinion, for people this age as they mature and are faced with challenges such as peer pressure and driving an automobile."

Batra agrees that she has gained valuable skills under the coaches’ guidance.  

“I wasn’t much of a public speaker before mock trial,” she said.

Patil, a member of several clubs, said, “Mock trial is the one I can use in daily life. It’s been fantastic.” Explaining that debate is required in many of her classes, she said, “I can argue forever now."

Of the group’s success, Batra said, “We didn’t think we’d make it this far. We have mostly new members, and we had to figure out how to organize them. You should have seen our faces when they announced we’d won three times.”

Ultimately, two finalists will advance to the state championship, to be held on March 23, 2012, in the Great Hall of Faneuil Hall in Boston. The winner will qualify for national competition.

The Mock Trial Club’s roster includes Andrew Chen, Julia Pai, Jacob Magasanik, Marie Weisfeiller, Katie Larkin, Ianka Bhatia, Julien Herpers, Angela Zhao, Nikhil Manocha, and Doris Zhang.