For nearly 25 years, Evanston Township High School has been providing students with a variety of ways to take a deeper look into post-high school law. One traditional route is Mock Trial, which has been popular among high schools since the late 1970s.

The ETHS mock trial team has no lack of opportunities for involvement. A noticeable activity is traveling, often visiting other schools for competitions. There’s a range of distances and options for participants. Some hosting schools are closer, such as Niles North, whereas others can be up to an hour away. Matches can also take place in real courthouses in suburbs like Skokie and in bigger cities, including downtown Chicago. Additionally, the state championships, hosted bythe Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) takes place in Springfield, over 3 and a half hours away.

“I think it’s really interesting and meaningful to be able to meet with real attorneys and be in real courtrooms,” said team captain Ruby Dold.

ISBA also happens to write the cases used for the faux hearings. While some are loosely tied to real trials, the vast majority deal with commonly heard issues among teenagers, such as drinking and driving or substance usage.

In every match, ETHS’s team competes one time on the defensive and another on the opposite side as prosecution for balance. Though many might think that there are victors based on who would win the suit in an authentic court, this is not the case. Instead, because trials are frequently biased in a particular direction, scores are established through the performance of the team.

“Often, the cases are skewed toward one side or another, so everyone’s opinions on the case are kind of meant to go one way,” noted Dold.

Each competition lasts for at least a few hours, as each proceeding typically takes around an hour, with several per competition. Furthermore, there’s ample waiting time while judges score the teams. During these events, members of the club also regularly have the ability to hear stories and advice from the judges, who are lawyers.

“[They] often tell us about their backgrounds and different careers, which gives us insight as to what a future in law might look like,” remarked Dold, “It teaches us a lot about what it’s really like to be a lawyer, which is what many of the people on the team want to do when they grow up.”

With the abundance of time, the teammates also get the chance to connect with one another.

“People on the team are very collaborative; we work together to figure out the best strategies and points to make in court, which helps us succeed because we have a variety of perspectives,” commented Dold. “The team is always very supportive of one another, especially at competitions.”