The middle of July is typically a time for students to take a break from the endless hustle and bustle of the school year. But to eleven CHS students in Burns Park, the middle of July is the beginning of a journey that will only end Sept. 27 in a Philadelphia courtroom. 

Mock Trial has been a part of Community High School for a long time. In Mock Trial, teams are made up of lawyers and witnesses, in accordance with a case that is provided by the league. Witness affidavits, evidence, like email and photographs and the charges that the prosecution or plaintiff are bringing, are all given to the teams of competitors. After that, teams are divided into Prosecution or defense, lawyers and witnesses. Finally, they must prepare a case that is brought before judges in competition.   

During the school year, CHS Mock Trial participates in the Michigan Mock Trial Tournament. The team that wins the state competition goes on to the national tournament. This summer, the eleven students of CHS are preparing for an Empire case. Empire is an international league, where teams from across the country and the world compete. For team captain Noah Lauring, there are some important differences. 

“Cases are a lot longer than the state cases that we use in regionals and states. Those cases are around 50 pages,” Lauring said. “These [Empire] cases are 200 pages. You have eight witnesses instead of just six, but each side can only call three witnesses, so you have to be strategic about which witnesses you want to call.”

As team captain, Lauring has more responsibility than other members of the team. As co-captains, Lauring and Kaylee Gadepalli both have to make pre-trial oral arguments (POAs), which are presented to the judge before the main trial begins. 

“Before the trial starts, one person from each side has a conversation with the judge, arguing to either keep a piece of evidence in or keep it out,” Gadepalli said. “What’s really cool is that you use real-life Supreme Court case examples to support your argument. You have to know your material, sure, but you also have to be ready to respond in real time to the judge’s questions. It takes a lot of thinking

on your feet, and it’s a really great opportunity to expand your debate skills and be adaptive.”

Lauring likes the POAs because they involve real case law. He also likes how teams will have to adapt their material they had already prepared to fit the judges ruling. This forces teams to change the material on the fly, adding to the tension of the trial and making it more competitive.   

“Oftentimes, the pre-trial or argument involves some aspect of the Constitution,” Lauring said. “Then after both sides have presented their arguments, the judge will make a ruling, and the teams will have to adapt their material to be in line with the judge’s ruling.”

The case this season is a wrongful termination suit. Campbell Oskee, a former professor at Empirion State University, in the fictional US state of Empirion, where all Empire League cases take place. Will be suing her former employer because she says that her firing was in retaliation for her speech. Specifically, a speech she gave on December 11, 2025 where she spoke out against the university. Empirion State University (ESU), will counter that Oskee was violating the ESU Employee Code of Conduct, and was not performing her teaching duties.  

Judah Garber is one of the lawyer coaches that help the CHS students prepare for their competition in Philadelphia. Garber has coached many Mock Trial seasons. He sees how this case fits into the other cases. There have been cases where environmental pollution was destroying houses. He also coaches the Michigan Mock Trial Tournament during the school year.  

“They’re thematically similar, at least the Empire cases. They try to take something that’s topical. I remember the first time we did it, it was in New York, and the case involved Donald Trump running for president the first time, and someone shot someone in a rally, at a Trump rally. Or they didn’t call it Trump, they called it drunk,” Garber said. “So they always have interesting topical cases of political interest. Stuff that maybe Michigan Mock Trial is a little too worried about. Michigan Mock Trial tries to be a little less controversial.”

Fall Empire will conclude on the weekend of Sept. 27, when CHS Mock Trial will fly out to Philadelphia to compete against teams from across the world. The team has planned scrimmage matches against other teams, as practice before the competition on the weekend. For Garber, these practice rounds, or scrimmages, are an intense and important part of practice. The scrimmages can be of great help in getting the team into the courtroom. 

“It’s time to figure out what it feels like to be in a courtroom with another team that you’re not used to,” Garber said.“It’s one thing to practice with your teammates every day, but then with another team, other things come out of seemingly left field. So it’s much more intense than a regular practice.”

On Wednesday and Thursday, CHS will scrimmage against two teams: Evocation Academy, from Toronto, Canada, a school dedicated to Mock Trial with a strong Mock Trial program to match, and Trinity, a school that Community Mock Trial has faced off against in the past. 

After that, it will be time for the real competition. The scored competition will take place over the weekend. Each of CHS’s Plaintiff side of the case and their Defense side of the case will go up against a different Plaintiff or Defense in a trial which will be scored by judges.   

The team will have two trials on Saturday and two trials on Saturday. CHS’s plaintiff will go up against another team’s defense twice, and CHS’s defense will go up against another plaintiff team twice. They will not find out when the team will be plaintiff or defense until the day of the competition. 

“I see myself for this tournament as more of a facilitator than a coach. As a coach, I’m there as a resource. I’m a lawyer. I know Mock Trial, and so I can answer questions about evidentiary ruling objections or strategic questions,” Garber said. “My approach as a coach is to let the students work out as much as they can, but there are times when students want to bounce it off of someone with some experience, so I feel like that’s my role, otherwise it’s just sort of a facilitator.”

As the team prepares for their tournament, with crosses, directs, statements and POA’s written, everyone is hoping to make within the the top 10 Empire Teams as well as prepare for the main Michigan Mock Trial season, which will begin in mid-November. 

“Mock trial is more than just the competition. It’s the weeks of prep leading up to it, bonding with your team, and learning from each other,” Gadepalli said. “It’s this shared connection with other teams knowing that you’ve all worked on the same case and that everyone at the competition has a passion for law.”