On Saturday, January 28, the MSMS Mock Trial team competed in the regional Mock Trial competition in Oxford, Mississippi, and won two spots in the state competition in March. This victory marked fifth straight year that both MSMS teams have moved on to Jackson for state.

The competition was written by the Mississippi Bar, who creates a legal case for the teams, who must then prepare plaintiff and defense arguments for the case. Claudia Vial, a senior who has participated in Mock Trial for three years, describes the teams: “Each team is composed of students portraying lawyers or witnesses.  For each round of competition, one school is the plaintiff and another school is the defense; we run pretty much full trial—opening statements, direct examinations of our witnesses, cross examinations of the opposing team’s witnesses, and closing arguments.”

This year’s case was of a sleep-deprived doctor sleeping behind the wheel, crashing into a car with two drunk young girls, one of whom was underage.

Junior Mariat Thankachan acted as the doctor. She said, “I’m also the witness on trial on the defense side. As a witness, I have to perform my statement and try to defend myself.” She was also the lawyer. Mariat explained, “I’m a lawyer on the Plantiff side, which means I do an opening statement, direct examination of a witness, and cross-examination for the opposing team.”

According to Vial, “[Mock Trial] is a lot of work, but it is super fun. Making and responding to objections keep you on your toes the whole time. It’s definitely a lot of pressure when you are competing, but I think we are ready.”