The Cazenovia High School Mock Trial team is off to a great start in the 2019 competition. High School Mock Trial is a program sponsored by the New York State Bar Association every year. Students from schools across the state compete starting in March, with the finalists traveling to Albany in May to try their cases before an actual judge of the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division.
The Cazenovia team will be competing against about a dozen other schools from the general area this year.
Each year the case is different, alternating between a criminal and civil case.
The committee tries to come up with interesting “pretend” scenarios that snatch facts from real-life headlines.
This year the team is litigating a civil case involving a nephew who wants to take over his Aunt’s rent-controlled apartment. In Harley Davison v. Gotham City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Harley’s application to assume the lease on Aunt Barbra’s apartment after her death is denied. He brings his fiancé and a neighbor to testify on his behalf. The government presents the testimony of the visiting nurse, Harley’s probation officer and the housing department investigator.
The students must learn and master the same rules of evidence and trial tactics over a few short months that law students learn over the course of three years.
Additionally, the team never knows what “judge” they might be appearing before, and have to think on their feet and adapt to each one in their effort to score points for the team. Both the students acting as lawyers and those acting as witnesses will need to score points in order for a team to prevail.
Students must prepare both sides of the case and won’t know until shortly before each round whether they will be presenting the side of the petitioner or the respondent.
This year, Cazenovia High School’s Mock Trial team consists of only two returning seniors and one returning sophomore.
The remaining members are all sophomores and new to the competition. Team members are: Zane Anthony; Jakob Buckley; Grace Degeilh; Madeline Gavitt; Eli Gifford; Ella Huftalen; Madeline McGreevy; Hannora Race; Jared Smith; Jenna Steinberg; and Adam Thomson.
The students are coached by Hon. Elizabeth W. Koennecke, an Administrative Law Judge for a federal agency. In the first three guaranteed rounds, the Lakers have defeated Westhill, Jamesville-Dewitt and Lafayette High Schools.
They proceed to the quarterfinal round on Thursday, March 21 with the opponent to be determined. All rounds from now on resolve with sudden-death elimination.
The proceedings commence at 3:30 p.m. at Nottingham High School. Spectators are welcome but must not wear any clothing that identifies a competing school as the identity of the teams are kept secret from the volunteer judges.
