Should a man who kills himself be responsible for his own death, or should the criminal justice system that had previously kept him in solitary confinement be responsible? This year, the Ruben D. Silverman Mock Trial Team argued on both sides of this case and had their most successful year yet, advancing to the semifinals in the MYLAW Maryland Montgomery County Circuit 1.
The JDS mock trial team was founded 22 years ago and has been shaped each year by new leadership and coaches, transforming it into the team it is today. The team is composed of high school students interested in learning how to argue a legal case. Each year, they receive a new case (often alternating between civil and criminal trials) to learn and compete with. The team competes in trials against both public and private schools in Montgomery County, all of which receive the same case and materials.
This year, the case was based on a true case in Maryland. The name of the case is kept confidential for legal reasons. It was a civil survival action lawsuit about the causes leading to the suicide of a man who was previously imprisoned for 18 months. The prosecution argued that the prison was wrong for holding the man in solitary confinement for too long, causing his mental health to deteriorate, ultimately leading to his suicide. Meanwhile, the defense argued that the civil court system acted within their rights, and had valid reasons for keeping him in solitary confinement. Therefore, they argued that the man was solely responsible for his own death.
“It’s our job to find the facts of the case and all the evidence and decide what’s useful and what’s not, and then we start to build our case,” sophomore Stella Cutler said.
The mock trial club is split into two teams, the defense and the prosecution, who argue different sides of the case. This year, the defense team went 5-1 and the prosecution team went 2-3. Cutler, a member of the defense team, is very proud of her work on the team this year.
Cutler joined the club as a freshman because she wants to be a lawyer as an adult. She joined mock trial because she thought it would be the best way to learn more and get more practical experience in legal cases.
“The experience has been awesome so far,” Cutler said. “We’re a very tight-knit group. We spend a lot of time together.”
Similar to Cutler, junior Ari Rollo, a member of the prosecution team, joined the team to understand what being a lawyer would be like. He enjoys competing against other schools, building community with the other people on the team and growing his self-assurance.
“When I first started mock trial, I was not very confident,” Rollo said. “I thought I had no idea what I was doing, but I’ve come a long way since then. This year, we made it all the way to semifinals, the furthest that the mock trial team has ever made it ever and it feels really great to be a part of that.”
In order to prepare for the trials, the team must become very familiar with the material given to them and the case. To do this effectively, it takes immense work and commitment. The club starts out each year with practices every week, which later increases when the case comes out, and as needed to prepare for upcoming trials.
“We go over the casebook as a team first, and then individually,” Rollo said. “We create our own question sets about important facts about the case, things to interview our witnesses and the opposing witnesses on. After a few weeks of getting that all set up, we do a practice trial where we go up against each other, where we test out our witnesses to see how good they actually are. After that, we go to the real trial against other schools.”
Both Cutler and Rollo enjoy being on the team and participating in the trials. Mock trial has taught them new skills, allowed them to explore their interests and helped them build community.
The club is led and coached by parents. Rona Kelner, mother of Josh Kelner (‘23) and senior Jennifer Kelner, has been co-running the mock trial team at JDS for seven years alongside lawyer David Kaminow. She joined the club when JDS was advertising for a new coach in 2018. Since she had previously practiced law, she thought it was a great way to put her legal skills and knowledge to use.
This year was Kelner’s final year coaching the team since her daughter graduated in February. She has loved the experience of meeting new people and helping develop the team. Kelner felt that this year was an outstanding year for her due to the performance of the team.
“It really is such a great reflection on the JDS program in general, because the kids were so capable,” Kelner said. “And I really feel like the coaches certainly help out, but the kids get it so quickly, and they learn what to do. They come in and they are ready to work, and they put in the time. It’s made me even more impressed with the students at JDS.”
