Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Seattle Prep Takes First Place at National High School Mock Trial

May 12, 2014, Madison, Wisconsin  –  Seattle Prep won the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Madison, Wisconsin this past weekend, beating a team from South Carolina in the final round.

The breakthrough victory for Seattle Prep came after six straight years of 3-1 records at Nationals.  The years of coming tantalizing close to the championship round finally ended when tournament officials announced the finalists in the shade of the Wisconsin State Capitol dome on Saturday afternoon. 

To reach the fifth and final round on Saturday evening, Seattle Prep won trials against teams from Iowa and Florida on Friday, and Connecticut and Illinois on Saturday.  The final trial took place in the ornate, majestic Wisconsin Supreme Court room in the State Capitol.  U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen Crocker presided.  A distinguished panel of attorneys and judges from around the country served as the “jury” of scorers.

Prep sophomore Elizabeth Shields was one of 10 students recognized as an Outstanding Attorney for the overall tournament. 

The case was a civil suit for wrongful death at a rave party on a hot summer night in the Wisconsin woods.  The victim’s estate claimed that his partner in their energy drink business had poisoned him with a caffeine overdose because he was about to leave their company and take their secret drink formulas to a competitor.  The defense argued that the victim’s history of medical problems and drug use led to his death. 

From the moment the case came out on April 1, students on 46 state championship teams from around the country honed their rhetorical and acting skills as they studied up on cardiology, toxicology, and intellectual property rights to prepare themselves for the competition.

For the Seattle Prep students, other highlights of the intense week in Wisconsin included scrimmages against the host state champions from Rhinelander,  along with teams from Indiana, New Hampshire, and Idaho.

Seattle Prep benefitted from the support of Washington State’s generous mock trial community as it advanced toward the competition in Madison.  The King County champions from Franklin High School worked up both sides of the case and scrimmaged, as did four members of the Washington Bar. King County Superior Court Judge William L. Downing presided over one of the Franklin scrimmages.

Prep’s mock trial program had 45 students this year, nine of whom comprised the Nationals traveling team. Seniors Casey Schmidt and Alexander McCullough anchored the witness trios on both sides of the case, with junior Will Daniels playing the deceased’s brother in some trials and the energy drink maker in others.  Representing the plaintiff were sophomores Elizabeth Shields and Anna Ferron.  Defending against the poisoning claim were juniors Caroline Genster and Max Kroeger.  Junior Molly McCarthy switched sides and outfits over the course of the weekend, acting as an attorney on  both sides of the case.  Sophomore Patrick Paulsen served as the official timekeeper.