Washington Courts: Press Release Detail

Cats and Competence: Teens Compete for State Mock Trial Championship this Weekend in Tacoma

Hundreds of high school students from across Washington will gather at the Pierce County Courthouse this weekend to compete in this year’s YMCA Mock Trial State Championship. For the first time, the competition moves to Tacoma after decades of being hosted in Olympia.

Students from 20 schools comprising 24 teams will come together March 22-24 at the Pierce County Courthouse, 930 Tacoma Avenue S., to participate in true-to-life trials where they will argue different sides of a fictitious case involving witness testimony, evidence, rulings by judges and ratings by jurors.

Dozens of Washington judicial officers volunteer to preside over the trials and more than 100 attorneys volunteer to serve as “jurors,” scoring the trial components to determine a winner.

The winner of the state championship is eligible to compete in the national high school Mock Trial championship in Delaware, in early May. Washington teams have consistently placed high in the national competition, winning twice.

This year’s case involves the contested will of a wealthy woman who may have left almost everything she owns to her cat and a cat shelter. The wealthy woman has two adult children and dies seemingly with two wills -- one will, drafted with an attorney, directs most of her fortune be put into a trust for her cat, Whiskers; a second will, executed a year later without an attorney and shortly before her death, unevenly splits her fortune among her two children.

After four rounds of trials which take place the evening of March 22 and throughout the day Saturday, March 23, the two teams with the top scores will compete Sunday for the championship. The championship trial begins at 11:30 a.m. and will be presided over by Washington Court of Appeals Division II Judge Linda Lee. It will be recorded by TVW.

“The YMCA Mock Trial program has been growing, and this year included 66 high school teams from across Washington competing in regional tournaments,” said Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis, who serves as chair of Washington’s YMCA Mock Trial program. “We are very grateful for the support the Thurston County courthouse has provided to the championship competition for years, and we are excited and grateful that Pierce County has welcomed this important civic program into their courthouse, which can accommodate the growing number of teams.”

Teams competing in the 2024 YMCA Mock Trial State Championship competition include:

Chelan County

• Wenatchee High School -- Purple team

Clark County

• Cascadia Technical Academy -- Blue
• Columbia River High School -- Purple

Jefferson County

• Port Townsend High School -- Black

King County

• East Lake High School -- Crimson
• East Lake High School -- Silver
• Franklin High School -- Malachite
• Franklin High School -- Obsidian
• Holy Names High School -- Maroon
• King’s High School
• Mercer Island High School -- Maroon
• Mount Si High School
• Seattle Academy of Arts & Science
• Seattle Preparatory School -- Blue
• Seattle Preparatory School -- White
• Skyline High School -- Green
• Skyline High School -- Silver
• University Prep

Klickitat County

• Columbia High School

Snohomish County

• Archbishop Murphy High School
• Kamiak High School -- Purple
• Marysville YMCA
• North Creek High School

Spokane County

• The Oaks Classical Christian Academy -- White

Mock Trial is part of the YMCA Youth & Government Program which helps young people experience democracy in action through both its Mock Trial and Youth Legislature programs. Mock Trial teaches students to compete in courtroom cases based on real laws as teams from different high schools argue either the prosecution/plaintiff or the defense side of the fictional case.

Students develop critical thinking and analytical skills, learn the art of oral advocacy, and gain understanding of law and the judicial branch.

Legal sponsors of the YMCA Mock Trial program include the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Washington State Bar Association, TVW, the Washington Judges Foundation, the Washington State Council of Fire Fighters, the Honorable Robert J. Bryan American Inn of Court, the District and Municipal Court Judges’ Association and the US District Court Western District of Washington.

General sponsors of the YMCA Youth & Government Program also include Microsoft, Comcast Cable, Mission Square Retirement, PEMCO Insurance, Weyerhaeuser, Manulife, Clarius, the Chehalis Tribe, the Wilderness Society, Avista Foundation, Henry M. Jackson Foundation, and Coldwell Banker – Dietz & Doughty Group.

CONTACT: Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert Lewis, Mock Trial State Program Chair, Robert.Lewis@clark.wa.gov ; or Lorrie Thompson, AOC senior communications officer, Lorrie.Thompson@courts.wa.gov, (360) 705-5347.