In room 200, court has been adjourned for the summer.
Team One of the Mock Trial Team lost in a nailbiter to Lower Moreland in the semifinals of the Montgomery County Mock Trial Competition.
Mock Trial has been in full swing since October 2022. The season started after the Pennsylvania Bar Association published the case file for all Pennsylvania schools. This year, the team argued a wrongful death case. The basic premise of the case is “Alejandro Desafios tragically drowns on an obstacle course owned and operated by Storm Chase LLC.”
The team faced an early disadvantage, with three returning members. The team had to balance practicing the case while learning the basics of mock trial. Luckily, Haverford has strong and experienced leaders, from the faculty, students, and attorney advisors.
Mr. Benjamin White and Mr. Jamison Maley have coached mock trial for several years now. Assisting Mr. White and Mr. Maley, the team has three attorney advisors. People who practice law for a living. Mr. Garth Hoyt ’89, Parent ’24), Mrs. Betsy Toplin P’22, and Mr. Kevin Toth P’26, all dedicated their Tuesday and Thursday afternoons to the team.
Mock Trial’s competition began in January, with a scrimmage against Penn Charter and Episcopal Academy. This competition was truly for the sole purpose of improvement. It was not scored, and notes were allowed. The team used this scrimmage to see how they compared to other teams. It was also critical for the team to get some experience before the upcoming Benjamin Franklin Invitational.
The team continued to show constant growth throughout the competition. It could have come at a better time, as the Montgomery County Competition was around the corner.
The following weekend, the team traveled to the University of Pennsylvania. The Ben Franklin Invitational was a weekend-long tournament against schools from all across the region. There was even a team from New York City at this competition. The format of the tournament was two days of two trials. The team would arrive at Penn in the morning and have a trial. The team would reconvene at Raising Canes for a strategy session before their afternoon trial. They would then try their second trial of the day. The team continued to show constant growth throughout the competition. It could have come at a better time, as the Montgomery County Competition was around the corner.
The Montgomery County Competition is the culmination of mock trial. For the first round of the competition, each team has two trials regardless. After a defeat in the first trial, the team believed their season was over. Despite this, the team put up a valiant effort, resulting in victory in the second trial of the first round.
The team went their separate ways over Presidents’ Day weekend, thinking the season was over. The team was delighted to find out their season was still alive, after barely sneaking into the next round.
On March 7, 2023, the music finally stopped. Haverford’s mock trial team’s historic run ended.
“It was incredible because we had so many new people, we had to start all over again with a new group,” Mr. White said. “But they were motivated and they learned quickly, and that is why we had so much success.”
