Harboring anxious feelings and clutching prepared notes, Patrick Monaghan ’14, Rachel Murree ’14 and six other Andover students entered a courtroom at Lawrence Housing Court. They were there to fight a legal case against Carborite Aircraft Inc. for the death of John D. Jacob, who was performing a stunt in one of Carborite’s stunt planes. John D. Jacob, in truth, was a fictional character and Carborite a made-up company, but Andover’s Mock Trial team walked into the courtroom acting as Jacob’s lawyers, fighting for the Massachusetts Regional Mock Trial championship. On Wednesday, February 26, Monaghan and Murree, the Co-Presidents of Mock Trial, led members of Andover’s Mock Trial team to a victory against Andover High School (AHS) in the 29th annual Massachusetts State Bar Association High School Mock Trial Tournament. Andover’s team had passed three preliminary rounds in prior weeks but needed to beat AHS in a tiebreaker to be crowned regional champions. “It was such a relief when we found out we won, because at the end of a trial I’m never really sure which way it goes, and I always sort of brace myself for the worst. The judge will either leave the room or possibly sit at the bench and calculate scores. And so you’re sitting there waiting, trying to stay in character. When you win, there’s no cheering, just a sigh of relief. You always want to be a good sport about it to the other team because they’ve been working just as hard as you have,” said Murree. After winning the title of regional champions, Andover’s Mock Trial team moved onto a Sweet Sixteen round that could have sent them to a state championship. Unfortunately, the team lost their trial to Malden Catholic High School on March 6. Andover’s team was still satisfied with a regional victory, having been plagued in recent years with a lack of victories at the state competition, a small team and little adult advising. “It felt very much like [Patrick and I] were building the Mock Trial team from the bottom up. When we got the club, it was in bad shape. We were working with a fairly new team this year, not a lot of people. We both had experience with Mock Trial at a school before Andover, but a lot of the people we were training from scratch,” said Murree. According to Murree, most high school Mock Trial teams have an attorney coach who attends weekly practices and gives the students critiques and advice about what an actual lawyer would do in a court case. “The two of us were both attorney and teacher coach for a long time this year. And when we did find an attorney coach, [Scott Taylor], this year, unfortunately he had to leave to do some litigation work in Texas,” said Murree. Since winning their new title, Monaghan and Murree are focusing on preparing next year’s board and creating a foundation for future years of success. “We just turned over the board, and so [Patrick and I] will be working with the board to make sure that they’re in a good spot going into next year so they feel like they’re ready to take on the world because honestly they’re in an amazing spot. There are a lot of really strong Uppers who we know are going to lead the club really well next year,” said Murree. Mock Trial will spend the Spring Term preparing for and competing in a trial against Exeter’s Mock Trial team. They have also been awarded an Abbot Grant to attend a trial at Harvard University in the fall.
