May 8, 2022, KalamaZoom (!?), Michigan –

Seattle Prep, representing Washington State, placed tenth at the National High School Mock Trial Championship this past weekend. 

Prep’s only loss came in Round 4, to the Kentucky team that went on to beat Georgia in the championship round. 

This year was the 11^th time that Seattle Prep has placed in the Top Ten at Nationals. 

Michigan hosted the event, which took place virtually for the second pandemic year in a row. The Prep team “traveled” to downtown Seattle for three days, stayed at a hotel, and competed over Zoom from the offices of the Lane Powell law firm. 

During the three-day tournament, Prep won trials against New Mexico (6^th place), South Carolina, and Idaho, before dropping the close fourth round to Kentucky. Thanks to the Zoom format, attorneys and judges from around the country served as the “jury” of scorers as they sat in their living rooms.

The Nationals case was a civil action for wrongful death of a college student. She was struck and killed by an autonomous car test-driving on campus. The event host city, Kalamazoo, included many local references in the case, including the car manufacturer, “Cheddar Autonomous Vehicles,” adapted from the famous yellow “Checker” cabs made in Kalamazoo. 

At one level, the case was a straightforward auto accident negligence case. But the “robot car” autonomous vehicle (“AV”) fact pattern forced students to grapple with some current technology concepts, such as LiDAR, CUAI (Continuously Updating Artificial Intelligence), “contingency braking,” and the range of ultrasonic sensors. The case also raised deeper questions about the price of progress – even if AVs are going to make driving safer in the long run, what happens if the robots allegedly “breach their duties of care” during the years of testing that lie ahead? And how careful do pedestrians need to be when crossing the street in front of oncoming AVs?

The Nationals case had many similarities with the 2017 Washington case, an autonomous vehicle fatality. The 2022 Washington case also prepared the students well – it involved alleged negligence by a landowner and a mountain biker. Legal concepts such as proximate cause and comparative fault were central to both of this season’s cases.

From the moment the Nationals case came out on April 1, students on 46 state championship teams from around the country (and South Korea) honed their rhetorical and acting skills as they studied up on rules of the road, robots, and the duties of “safety drivers” who babysit the AVs during the testing phase. AV technology expert Chris Blumenberg answered many questions about how self-driving cars operate. ZoomLand scrimmages against Tennessee, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, and California in sharpened the team’s case theories and examinations.

Seattle Prep benefitted from the support of Washington State’s generous mock trial community as it advanced toward the competition in Michigan.  Five members of the Washington Bar donated their time to work up the case and scrimmage the team, as did several SPMT alums, two of whom are now clerking for federal judges. Clark County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Lewis, the mock trial program chair for Washington’s YMCA Youth & Government program, presided over the scrimmage against Tennessee. Retired King County Superior Court Judge William L. Downing made rulings as the Prep plaintiff team duked it out with three attorneys representing defendant Cheddar.  Longtime Archbishop Murphy coach Roger Brodniak presided at the Idaho scrimmage.

Prep’s mock trial program had about 40 students this year, nine of whom made up the Nationals “traveling” team. Senior Sawyer Shoultz doubled as a Nationals witness, playing the grieving parent on the plaintiff side and the safety driver on the defense side.  Daniel Faricy, and Sam McGee played two of the other witnesses. Representing the plaintiff were senior Daniela Castillo and juniors Maddie Ando and Margaret Collins.  Margaret also took on the head-splitting task of playing the witness role of Cheddar CEO on the defense side. Seniors Maia Miller and Ryan Morrell represented the defendant, along with junior Jessica McDowall who argued the closing.  Like Margaret, Ryan “doubled,” playing the plaintiff expert as well.

One standout moment at Nationals will live on in program lore and in video clips for future generations. Daniela Castillo’s two-minute closing argument rebuttal in Round 4 was among the greatest performances the Prep coaches had seen in 61 Nationals trials since 2003.

The 2022 season was one of the best overall in program history. Prep teams finished first, second, and third at King County Districts; first and fourth at State.  To put it differently, Prep teams competed in 22 trials from February through May. Prep lost twice: once to itself (Varsity v. JV “civil war” in Round 4 at State); once to the National champions. 

Washington State has won three National championships. Prep won in 2014; Franklin High School won in 2000 and 2017. Over 3000 high schools around the country have mock trial programs.

Coaches Jen Freeman, Andy McCarthy, Andy Hendricks (’83), Taylor Larson (’07, UW Law 1L), and Jesuit novice Cyrus Habib helped the team get ready, as did many alums, including Michelle Nguyen (’20), Chase Robinett (’13), Scott Ferron (’10), Tierney Vial (’11), Nigel Stacey (’07), Luke Pfister (’17), and Molly McCarthy (’15). Attorney Joe Genster volunteered lots of weekday afternoons and weekend mornings to lend his expertise. 

For further information about the team, contact Prep program head Jennifer Freeman. For information about the program statewide, contact the sponsoring organization, YMCA Youth and Government; for information about the national high school mock trial, see http://nationalmocktrial.org.