The River Falls High School Mock Trial team has made school history by capturing the second place title in the State Mock Trial Tournament held in Madison on March 11-12, 2017. Before this year, the highest placement at state for River Falls High School had been third place. The team won the Region 1 title in the regional mock trial competition held in Eau Claire, Wisconsin on February 11th.
Mock trial students play the roles of both attorney and witness as they prepare a fictitious case to compete against mock trial teams from other schools. In preparation for mock trial tournaments, students learn basic court procedures and litigation strategies and strengthen their critical thinking, advocacy, and teamwork skills.
This year’s teams argued a criminal case involving an opiate overdose and the alleged culpability of the defendant in the case, “Tristan Marks”. In any given round, each team serves as either the prosecution or the defense and that, typically, each team’s prosecution and defense compete twice.
The River Falls High School team has participated in the State Mock Trial Tournament for 11 of the past 14 years. The team is coached by River Falls High School teacher Heather Boleman and attorney Tracy Tool of Bye, Goff & Rohde, Ltd.
This year the National Mock Trial Championship will take place in Hartford, Connecticut on May 12th-14th. Read more about the Wisconsin High School Mock Trial Tournament on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s website.
