LAMORINDA WEEKLY | It's Now Miramonte High School vs. the State of California: Orinda High School's Mock Trial Team is County's Champion


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After a number of speeches made by the coaches and individual awards given out to individual achievement participating students, the exciting 31st Annual Contra Costa County High School Mock Trial's Awards Ceremony concluded with the naming of this year's championship team: Miramonte High School.

For the past four weeks (seven evenings), the Miramonte High School and 15 other Contra Costa County high school Mock Trial teams have been battling it out with each other inside the superior courthouses in Martinez, in the Contra Costa County Office of Education's 31st Annual High School Mock Trial Competition. Miramonte High School will now represent Contra Costa County at the California State Mock Trial competition in Sacramento, Calif., March 23-25. (The California state finalist team will then compete in the National Mock Trial Competition, held in Albuquerque, N.M. May 3-5.)

Teams from the following 16 Contra Costa County high schools competed in this year's Mock Trials: Acalanes (Lafayette), Alhambra (Martinez), Antioch (Antioch), California (San Ramon), Campolindo (Moraga), Clayton Valley (Concord), Deer Valley Law Academy (Antioch), Dougherty Valley (San Ramon), Hercules Middle/High (Hercules), Heritage (Brentwood), Kennedy (Richmond), Las Lomas (Walnut Creek), Miramonte (Orinda), Monte Vista (Danville), Northgate (Walnut Creek), and Richmond (Richmond).

The top four teams finished in this order:

1. Miramonte

2. California

3. Northgate

4. Hercules

Mock Trial is an academic event for high school students coordinated by the Contra Costa County Office of Education, and sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation. The purpose of this program is to teach students about the law and the workings of the legal system. To prepare, the students conducted legal research and received guidance on courtroom procedures from their school teachers and volunteer attorneys and judges, to acquire a working knowledge of the judicial system. This year, close to100 Bay Area practicing and retired attorneys, senior law students, and sworn judges volunteered their time to serve as Mock Trial Attorney Scorers and Judges.