LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Miramonte Returns as County's Mock Trial Championship Team


Miramonte High School's Mock Trial team Photo Diane Morrell, CCCOE

After a number of speeches made by the coaches and individual awards given out to participating students, the exciting 32nd Annual Contra Costa County High School Mock Trial's Awards Ceremony concluded Feb. 28 with the naming of this year's championship team: Miramonte High School. This is Miramonte's second win in a row; they have dominated the county's Mock Trial program since 2000, winning 10 championships.

For four weeks (seven evenings), the Miramonte High School and 16 other Contra Costa County high school Mock Trial teams battled it out with each other inside the superior courthouse courtrooms in Martinez, during the Contra Costa County Office of Education's 32th Annual High School Mock Trial Competition.

Contra Costa County Presiding Judge Barry Goode was on hand to address the large crowd, congratulate all the participants, and hand out the Mock Trial awards. The top four teams finished in this order: Miramonte, first; California, second; Acalanes, third; and Monte Vista, fourth. Goode said how impressed he was with all the students, and that it was obvious that they put a lot of time and effort into to preparing for their trials.

Miramonte will now represent Contra Costa County at the California State Mock Trial competition in Riverside, Calif., March 23-25. (The California state finalist team will then compete in the National Mock Trial Competition in Indianapolis, Ind., May 9-11.)

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, nearly 100 Bay Area practicing and retired attorneys, senior law students, and sworn judges volunteered their time to serve as Mock Trial attorney scorers and judges. These volunteers represented judges from Contra Costa County's Superior Court, California Bankruptcy Court, and California Appellate Court. Attorney scorers included district attorneys, public defenders, and state attorney general deputies; public, private, and corporate attorneys; and senior Bay Area law students, from Contra Costa County, as well as nearby counties.