“My name is Toby Williams,” junior Leesha Kamotho said.
Or, at least, that’s what she will say when it comes around to trial night, this upcoming Thursday, January 23. Kamotho will be playing a key witness named Toby Williams in the case on one of four FHN teams competing this year. Everyone on mock trial is either a witness or a lawyer and they all have different parts to play in order to make the trial feel and flow as realistically as possible.
“The most difficult thing [about being a lawyer] is getting used to the objections,” sophomore Esther Lin said. “Gavin Swart goes crazy when objecting, and I never know how to respond.”
Lawyers have to memorize questions to ask, federal rules of evidence and court procedure while witnesses have to learn to play an entire character. Similar to playing a character in a play, except all of the character’s lines are built off of around five pages of information about the character that has to be used and remembered throughout the entire trial. Kamotho and Lin are both on different teams, but a lot of practicing happens between teams as well to make sure everyone is prepared for whatever might be thrown at them on trial day.
“I enjoy talking to people that I wouldn’t have otherwise interacted with,” Lin said. “Also, learning objections has been fun, people yelling at people, all that fun stuff.”
Each mock trial team will be competing against other schools in the area. They have two rounds of preliminary trials, January 18 and 23 and February 13 and 15. Two teams go to trial on Tuesdays while the other two compete on Thursdays. Their scores in these first two trials will determine how many, if any, of the teams can move on to compete at the regional level.
“This year we actually have two extra teams,” Kamotho said. “So last year, we only had two separate teams. This year, we have four teams, and it’s really great to see all the new freshmen coming in and just all the new members that are joining mock trial and seem to be enjoying it.”
Last year, the FHN mock trial teams performed well enough to win preliminary, regional and state rounds. After that, they were given an entirely new case to learn and prepare before going up against many high-ranking teams from around the world at nationals, where they earned 38th place. Six of the nine members who went to nationals returned this year, some for the final time in their high school careers.
“I’m so sad, especially because I feel like it’s never easy to lose seniors on your team,” Kamotho said. “Especially because I feel like they’re like the leaders. And some of the seniors, especially this year, are some of my closest friends and it’s hard seeing them go.”
