The Cypress Lake Mock Trial team is gearing up for a new season, and they have something to prove. 

In Mock Trial, students play the parts of attorneys and witnesses in a fictional case, often inspired by real events. Last year’s case involved a student who sued her university after she was expelled for allegedly using AI tools to write a term paper. This year’s case will be released in late November, but the team is already hard at work, using old cases to practice and train new members so they will be ready to hit the ground running as soon as the new case comes out. 

“Our team is almost entirely juniors, so it’s important for us to start recruiting and training younger students who will be ready to take over,” said Ms. Camp, the Mock Trial Coach. At their first meeting Sept. 17, returning members worked with groups of new members to guide them through the process of analyzing their first case. 

After placing second in the district in the 2023 competition, their best finish to date, the team was disappointed to come in fifth last year, especially after tabulation errors called the scoring into question. “It was incredibly frustrating,” Junior Gus Lessinger said of the controversy, “but we’re ready for our revenge tour this year.” 

Despite their fifth place finish, the Cypress Lake team won the Team Professionalism Award as well as several individual awards. Brigitte Maillakakis won Best Overall Defense Witness, and Valeska Perez won Best Overall Defense Attorney. Both students, now juniors, hope to reprise their performances and win the district competition this season. “We are determined to beat Cape this year,” Perez said of the team’s perennial rival, a sentiment echoed by the rest of the team. 

Mock Trial meets Tuesdays in E216. Contact Ms. Camp at [email protected] for more information.