On March 13 and 15, the Mock Trial team will compete at the Regional level, which will consist of 12 schools from around the area. If the team wins at Regionals, they will move on to the State competition.

Senior Jean-Luc Panchot is one of the lawyers on the Mock Trial team.

“Mock Trial is where students who have an aptitude for speaking and critical thinking come together to pretend to be lawyers and witnesses in a real court of law,” he said.

He added, “Basically it’s like Law & Order for high school kids who haven’t been to law school.”

Junior Nikki Frazer who plays the part of a witness said the team has attended two competitions in order to reach the Regional level.

In order to get ready for each competition, Frazer said witnesses work with the lawyer who will directly examine them.

“We worked together and we got a lot of questions he was going to ask me. The lawyers have to memorize every single objection and response to objection known to man and the witnesses just memorize their statements,” she said.

The Mock Trial team was somewhat surprised that they made it to Regionals, because this is their first year being together.

“We didn’t know what kind of competition we would be up against when we started, but at this point we have a better idea of what kind of schools are going and who the power houses are,” Panchot said.

After Regionals, eight of the 12 schools will continue to State.