High School of American Studies at Lehman College Wins Region VI Mock Trial Competition

 High School of American Studies at Lehman College Wins Region VI Mock Trial Competition

5.18.2022

By Jennifer Andrus

High School of American Studies at Lehman College has advanced to the semifinal round of the New York State Bar Association’s Mock Trial competition, which will be held May 23.

The Bronx team beat Manhattan’s Dalton School last month to become the Regional IV finalist.  This is the second year in a row the team has made it to the state level. The High School of American Studies  won the state championship in 2021. Judges score teams on several factors including professionalism in their presentation of a hypothetical case.

The students prepare to try the case for both the prosecution and the defense. Team members take on roles as attorneys, witnesses, researchers, and writers.

“It’s been an absolutely crazy journey and I’m sure I speak for the entire team when I say that we’re so excited, so stoked to be going to States,”  says senior Lilli Duberstein.

Marisa Tirado agrees, “I think it’s going to be amazing, knowing that we are going to finals our senior year. It’s everything that we’ve worked for these past four years and I love the team we’ve created.”

NYSBA produced team video

Eight regional teams are competing in the May 23^rd semifinals, and the top two teams will face off in the final on May 24. The other regional champions are City Honors School, Buffalo; Nottingham High School, Syracuse; Albany Academy for Girls, Ossining High School, Huntington High School, Massapequa High School, and Hunter College High School, Manhattan.  

The NYSBA Mock Trial program celebrates its 40^th this year. There are 400 teams involving 4,000 high school students in the competition.

The program is sponsored by the New York State Bar Association’s Law, Youth and Citizenship Committee. The New York Bar Foundation provides some of the funding.