Mock Trial: ModernBrain's Season In Review (2023)

ModernBrain is the best year-round after school enrichment program for mock trial, bar none.

This year, we launched our Mock Trial Nationals Team. Students needed at least a semester's worth of mock trial experience from their school program, our classes, or a comparable substitute to join.

Mock trial is similar to chess. Study and experience breed success. In chess, you memorize openings and responses. In mock trial, memorizing the federal rules of evidence and rhetorical/evidentiary responses is key to victory.

Our students were all eighth, ninth, or tenth graders. We went up against seniors. In other words, we didn't have experience on our side.

Despite this, we excelled. We attended all four International Mock Trial association quarterly competitions, placing every time.

As a result, we earned an invitation to the Mock Trial Tournament of Champions. Only the top 28 teams went--former national champions, American state champions, and teams with dominant performances within their respective states, counties, and even other countries (China, Canada, South Korea). It had the highest quality judging anywhere in the country this year—in addition to practicing trial attorneys and sitting judges, there were former All-Americans and National Championship winners at the high-school, collegiate, and post-graduate levels.

We were the only academy that won a team award.

We did this with a team of 100% novices.

We not only had the top overall attorney, but we placed fifth in this field, only losing to the divisional champions by single digits. Next year, we're going for the gold.

Congrats to this season's top performers on our Mock Trial Nationals Team:

• Arianna (8th grade): Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #2), Top Attorney (IMT #2), Top Witness (IMT #2), 4th (IMT #2)
  
• Audrey (8th grade): Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #4), Top Witness [x2] (IMT #4), 2nd (IMT #4), 6th (IMT #3)
• Carissa (10th grade): Top Witness (Tournament of Champions), Top Witness (IMT #3), 5th (Tournament of Champions), 6th (IMT #3) 
• Dora (9th grade): Top Attorney (IMT #3), 2nd (IMT #4), 4th (IMT #1), 5th (Tournament of Champions), 6th (IMT #3) 
• Ethan (8th grade): Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #1), Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #2), Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #3), Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #4), Top Attorney (IMT #1), Top Witness (IMT #1), Top Attorney (IMT #2), 2nd (IMT #4), 4th (IMT #1), 6th (IMT #3)
• Garfield (9th grade): Top Attorney (IMT #1), Top Attorney (IMT #2), Top Attorney (IMT #3), Top Attorney (IMT #4), 2nd (IMT #4), 4th (IMT #1), 5th (Tournament of Champions), 6th (IMT #3) 
• Grace (10th grade): Top Witness (IMT #4), 2nd (IMT #4), 4th (IMT #1), 5th (Tournament of Champions), 6th (IMT #3) 
• James (10th grade): Top Witness (IMT #1), 4th (IMT #2)
• Mirabelle (8th grade): Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #3)
• Olivia (10th grade): Top Attorney (Tournament of Champions), Top Attorney (IMT #4), 2nd (IMT #4), 5th (Tournament of Champions), 6th (IMT #3)
• Sailee (8th grade): Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #4)
• Samantha (8th grade): Outstanding Middle Schooler (IMT #2), Outstanding Middle School (IMT #3), Top Witness (IMT #1), Top Witness (IMT #2), 4th (IMT #2)
• Zoe (9th grade): 4th (IMT #2)

We also want to congratulate teams we've trained--from Pennsylvania state semifinalists to international Empire Mock Trial finalists and semifinalists to school teams throughout the country to the 2022 law school national champions, we've helped students at all levels excel.

Overall, our students took home 67 team and individual awards in a single season. This is an unheard of level of success for most college mock trial teams, let alone teams of eighth-tenth graders competing against high schoolers.

If you'd like to join this team, we have signups open for our one-week MOCK TRIAL INTENSIVES and our summer-long MOCK TRIAL class. We restart the Mock Trial Nationals Team in the fall. Fall signups will be out by the start of July.