Club Spotlight: Mock Trial

by Lila Caplan ’20

Going into this season of Mock Trial, I don’t think anyone knew what to expect. Seeing as last year we got so close to winning some of our trials, we had our game faces on and we were determined to take home at least one win. We did just that.

From working with our Mock Trial leaders Molly Martins and Bryon Williams to studying with our attorney coaches, APH Board of Trustee member, Lyn Acari, and my dad, attorney Andy Caplan, to practicing with our witnesses, we prepped for our trials.

This year the trial was an insurance case. A man died due to an explosion from a propane tank in the back of his truck. The plaintiff side was fighting for the family stating that this was an accident and that the insurance company needs to pay out the $5 or $10 million death benefits that they owed.

The defense side was siding with the insurance company stating that it was a clear suicide. Due to the fact that he got the insurance so close to when he died and since in the contract it states that if suicide is committed within a certain amount of time, the insurance company does not owe a cent.  From there we looked through the trial book with a fine-toothed comb for little bits of evidence to help prove our case.

There were three trials that we competed in. The first was against Reading Memorial. We sadly lost by only a few points. All of us were a little shaky as it was the first trial of the year. I will say that the girls who had never done it before truly rose to the challenge and kicked some butt.

The second trial was amazing. It was against Bishop Fenwick and it was our first win for the team ever. We really seemed to click and work together and we really just nailed the other team and caught them off guard. Two of our girls scored perfect 10s during this trial.

In the last of the three trials, we were up against St. John’s Prep. we fell short of a few points but we put up a great fight against such an established team. Again, during this trial we had one of our girls score a perfect 10 as a witness.
All in all, we had an amazing run and I cannot wait to see what next year has in store. Unfortunately, we are losing two of our members as they are seniors and are graduating this year. We will miss them both very much but we are also very excited to get new members and to grow!