Mock Trial is an exciting team at Cathedral Catholic High School where students try out and are put onto defense and prosecution teams. Each team has witnesses, attorneys, and pre-trial attorneys, which make up the team. This year, over 60 people tried out in September and only 17 people were given a spot on the team. 

Members of Mock Trial are mentored by real-life attorneys and they take on “mock” cases to solve. The team met on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for two hours to work on cases and put together their final speeches. 

This year, the case was about a kidnapping. Each member plays the role of witness, pre-trial, or trial attorney in the scrimmages against other schools. These scrimmages then lead into the final competition, where Cathedral’s defense team goes against the other teams’ prosecution team and vice versa in other rounds. 

Mock Trial coach Mr. Bobrinskoy explains: “The scrimmages and final competition are fun and very competitive and it’s great to see how much students improve in their public speaking, critical thinking, acting skills, and ability to improvise in a real courtroom, in front of a real judge.” 

Mock Trial helps students become more exposed to the career of law and gives them an opportunity to improve on many skills. “Mock Trial has really helped me get better at public speaking and being able to work closely with a team is very inspiring and the [real-life] attorneys [who work with us] are very helpful as well,” pre-trial attorney Kira Cole 26’ says. 

This season, the defense team won the opening round at the first trial. These trials can last up to four hours and over 40 schools compete in these competitions. The team was “3-0 after the first three rounds, including a victory over the most decorated Mock Trial team in San Diego, and came up just short in the final round,” Mr. Bobrinskoy says.

Despite losing many valuable seniors, the team has improved tremendously this season and look to improve even more in the next year. Tessa Granieri ’26, new member on the Mock Trial team, says, “I loved being able to experience being on the team because I’ve made some really good new friendships and everyone is so positive all the time.”

If you are looking for a way to get pre-law experience or are interested in the team, Mock Trial is a great opportunity to meet helpful attorneys and learn what it’s like to be a real lawyer.