From March 15-17, McLean’s Mock Trial team traveled to the Henrico County Circuit Court just north of Richmond for their annual state tournament. Following their third place finish at regionals, the team reached the final round of states where they were edged out by Henrico High School.

“For the past three years we’ve gotten fifth place at states,” senior attorney and co-captain Niki Hoffman said. “This year we were just trying to break the fifth place curse, so it felt good that we got second.”

The 2023-2024 mock trial competition season centered around the case of Rochan v. Rama Forensics, a civil court case in which a child named Sonny Rochan fell down a mountain at the RamaForensics camp. Schools in the Virginia and Washington D.C. area must place in the top half of the entries at regionals to qualify for the state competition. McLean was the reigning champion for regionals, but the team’s performance this year was underwhelming compared to previous years.

“We only placed third for regionals which was down from our two-year streak of getting first in the region,” Hoffman said. “We also had a scare about one member not making it to states.”

The club is based on the dynamic of a real trial, with members acting out the different roles, such as attorney, witness and courtroom artist and journalist. Before states, the mock trial team prepared written statements, verbal testimonies and improvised cross examinations.

“Mock trial is hard — it requires high school students to act like real lawyers and do things like making evidentiary objections and cross examinations,” mock trial coach Eli Schlam said. “

At states, McLean dominated the preliminary rounds, winning seven out of eight ballots and defeating notable schools including Marshall High School and Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology.

“In the third round we went against Compass, which is a highly ranked team,” Hoffman said. “We won one ballot by one point and [another] ballot by two points—it was the closest round we had.”

Victory after victory, the team made their way to the final round where the winner would qualify to the national mock trial competition.

“During the competition, it was really exciting both watching and actually competing. In every single round, you had no idea how you were going to do and what the opposing team was going to be like, which kept the team wary,” junior witness Emily Ma said. “Going into finals, our entire team was excited and nervous.”

While the champion title was just out of grasp, it marked the first time the mock trial team reached the final round in McLean history.

“We heard repeatedly from the judges at the competition that the students on our team performed better than many actual lawyers,” Schlam said. “Our success is a testament to both the incredible skill on our team and the hours of hard work. I’m also proud of how collaborative our team is, everyone on the team contributed to our success.”

The team gained valuable experience and confidence for next year. Sophomore Jiayu Chen is in her first year of mock trial and she took on the role of the witness for the plaintiff side during states.

“The witness tells most of the story so to be a good witness you have to know when you have to use emotion and when to use energy,” Chen said. “I learned how to be a better witness through poise — staying calm even when you’re in front of a judge and attorney who is trying to make you look bad.”

The mock trial team will continue to dedicate their time into perfecting their skills while knowing that they are just one step away from being recognized nationally.

“All I have to say is that I’m extremely proud of them and how much work they have put in,” former mock trial captain Christina Wu said.