Originally published on April 27, 2015

The courtroom doors open as she starts her strut to the defense side. Her arguments race through her mind; she’s used them against a couple of other teams prior to this team from Florida. “I’m going to slam them with their key witness,” she says to herself. She’s done it before. Cross-examine the plaintiff witness, catch them in a trap. That’s what the second-ranked team in California does.

“When you go to Empire, all the teams there have to have a certain level of competency.”

The Florida team prepares to call their final witnesses — three allowed out of four. “We call the defense witness to the stand,” the attorney said. Eyes enlarge, heart drops. She glances at her captain; she has the team’s defense packet in her hands, recreating the entire strategy with coaches by her side. New opening and closing statements. New questions. New playing field.

Although unexpectancies and dilemmas arose, the school’s Mock Trial team argued its way to win sixth place in the 2014 Empire Invitational this year.

Empire Invitational is an exclusive competition, in which 22 teams across the globe — from countries such as Korea, Wales, Georgia and China — are chosen to compete in November. The program prepares its teams to excel in high school competitions by exposing them to and helping them work through higher level cases, and 14 of the teams won state titles in 2013, according to Empire Mock Trial’s website. Usually held in New York in October, Empire expanded its program to San Francisco for the first time in 2014. The opening ceremony was held at City Hall, and the competition at the Federal Court House.

Lowell’s Mock Trial is the first San Francisco Unified School District team to attend this invitational. “Last year, we did really well and got contacted by the CEO of this organization,” co-captain junior Nikole Gorin said. “He said we should apply, so we did.”

The team that competed at the invitational consisted of Gorin and her co-captain junior Ron Kharmach; seniors Jackson Murphy, Adam Southwick and Joe Genolio; juniors Akeylah Hernandez and Andrew Wilcox; and sophomores Matilda Michel, Daniela Bernstein, Luke Howard and Gina Rose Montarano.

This competition challenged the team since the case was college-level, as opposed to the usual level of high school state competitions. “When you go to Empire, all the teams there have to have a certain level of competency, whereas at state you can have a team, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a good team,” Bernstein said. At the state level, there are limitations to the number of objections and rules of evidence teams can present. Empire, however, allows outside information — a more realistic approach to the practice of law.

“Besides the excitement of the actual competition, it was fun to witness the camaraderie amongst the various teams.”

This year’s Empire case was about a wrongful death suit “with a case of a scuba diver who went with a company to the Bahamas,” Gorin said. “S/he (it’s gender-neutral) went underwater, but the body was never found. We had to prove that the company was reckless.”

The team went against a team from Georgia for the first round. The California teams had an opportunity to challenge other teams outside of the state. “We weren’t expecting or prepared to challenge anyone,” Gorin said. “We looked for combined strengths and chose the team ranked second in Georgia. We knew they were ranked second, but weren’t a strong Mock Trial state.” The judges take account of how challenging the opposing team is while scoring. If Lowell does well against a more proficient team, then they will gain more points.

The team’s strategy: nice, not aggressive. Please the judges; don’t attack them. Lowell’s Mock Trial’s goal is to control the courtroom. Unlike many teams, they don’t use a script, leaving room for improvisation. “We aren’t scripted, and we try to conform to any situation and change things at the last moment,” Gorin said. “A lot of teams are scripted and when things happen, they look disorganized.”

This competition helped improve the team’s speaking and argumentative skills. “It taught us how to move with purpose, and how to use our speech to get something across,” Gorin said. “We practiced around once or twice a week. We go to a law firm downtown and practice with our attorneys, where they help us form all our arguments and opening and closing statements.”

“We aren’t scripted, and we try to conform to any situation and change things at the last moment.”

The team was coached by real lawyers to prepare. “Besides the excitement of the actual competition, it was fun to witness the camaraderie amongst the various teams, as the organizers scheduled a number of non-law events to help the students get to know each other,” volunteer coach Lisa Hathaway said in an email.

During the awards ceremony at Parc 55 Hotel downtown, Murphy won the Best Witness award and Bernstein won the Best Attorney award. “I did two examinations, which is when you ask two witnesses questions,” Bernstein said. “I also did the opening statement, which is when you take your side of the story and try to get the jury to agree with you before there’s any evidence presented at all.”

The judges scored the participants based on their performance and the top-scoring people won awards. “It was so much fun,” Bernstein said. “They started announcing top witnesses and top attorneys, and they said, ‘This person got 19 out of 20 points’ and we’re like, ‘That’s definitely not us.’ Then they said, ‘That person is from your team — Jackson Murphy,’ and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh!’”

The team’s strategy: nice, not aggressive. Please the judges; don’t attack them.

Hathaway and Doris Cheng, volunteer attorneys who practice with the Lowell Mock Trial team at their law firms downtown, help with forming arguments and opening and closing statements. Hathaway’s law firm became involved with Mock Trial through the SF Bar Association’s Justice and Diversity Center, which pairs lawyers from the legal community with public high schools in the city. “I’m new to the world of Mock Trial, so I began by observing and trying to learn as much as possible,” Hathaway said in an email. “The juniors and seniors have a lot of institutional knowledge that they impart to the younger students, and me. I do my best to contribute with the substantive points of laws, like responding to objections and developing direct and cross examinations.”

Last year, the Mock Trial sponsor, former social studies teacher Charles Raznikov, left Mock Trial without a sponsor, and the team was unable to compete until new social studies teacher and former practicing attorney Michael Ungar saved the day. “Luckily, Mr. Ungar came,” Gorin said. “He’s a new teacher, but he’s actually a lawyer. It’s nice having someone at school who can help you.”

Ungar put Mock Trial’s case back in order. Ungar — a lawyer turned teacher — first volunteered for the San Francisco Bar Volunteer Program, where he coached Thurgood Marshall’s Mock Trial team for a couple of years. “Before I was a lawyer, I was a criminal attorney and an assistant district attorney in New York,” he said. “I conducted trials very frequently and ran into legal issues that involve criminal prosecution and indictments and arrest — all the sort of things that feed directly into Mock Trial.” The team utilized Ungar’s skills and experience during practices.

In 2012 and 2014, Lowell’s Mock Trial team became the city champions, and went on to the California State competition, placing in the top 8 both times. This year’s Mock Trial program did not make it to the state championship, but they plan to participate again in the Empire Invitational this year.

Caleb Hilladakis contributed to this article.