Kris Morrella has seen her mock trial team of students win its second California State Mock Trial Championship.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Saying Goodbye
Lincoln High School English teacher Kris Morrella leads mock trial team students to numerous championships
By Amy Jenkins
Photographs by Jacqueline Ramseyer
The classroom filled with excitement during the Lincoln High School mock trial team's first meeting after returning from spring break. Each of the team's 18 members spent the break not only having fun, but also preparing for the 19th annual National High School Mock Trial Championship, to take place in St. Paul, Minn., May 9 through 12.
In 1977, the Los Angeles-based Constitutional Rights Foundation introduced the idea of mock trials to Los Angeles schools. By 1980 the program had expanded to the state level and now involves more than 35 counties in California. Rather than reading a schoolbook, a mock trial teaches students about law through role-playing techniques.
With the help of volunteer lawyers and teachers, students study a fictional case and are each assigned to a specific position. Among the roles students assume are trial attorneys, pretrial motion attorneys, witnesses, clerks and bailiffs.
The Lincoln High School team began 15 years ago when San Jose attorney Jim Towery saw some of the school's students at an event in Sacramento and wanted to start a mock trial team, says the team's coach and Willow Glen resident Kris Morrella.
The team's leader
The school had a mock trial team for one year in the 1980s, but since Morrella started coaching more than 15 years ago, each year there has been a strong team and numerous championships. In addition to coaching the mock trial team, Morrella is the chairwoman of the school's English department and teaches junior honors English.
Morrella, 57, has lived in Willow Glen almost her entire life. She moved to Willow Glen at age 10 and graduated from Markham Jr. High School (now Willow Glen Middle School). In 1962 she graduated from Willow Glen High School.
In 1968 she began teaching and has been teaching ever since, aside from a maternity leave, from which she returned in 1979. This year she is retiring because "the school district is giving good benefits to teachers over 55 who have taught for more than 30 years," she says.
She has even had two of her three children attend Lincoln High School. Her daughter, Monica, who graduated in 1991, had no interest in joining the mock trial team but is now happy she did.
"She would say 'I hate public speaking,' " Morrella recalls. "But she came in to borrow money during tryouts and I told her, 'You can't leave here without trying out.' She went on to law school and is now an attorney."
Monica was on the team for two years. During her first year with the team, it won the Santa Clara County championship.
Morrella's son Brady graduated from Lincoln High School in 1996. He was not on the mock trial team and was not in his mother's junior honors English class. "He said he couldn't be in my class because he would be too uncomfortable if kids talked about me," Morrella says. "So I didn't teach the class that year."
Morrella's oldest son, Jason, is the coach of the Bellarmine High School robotics team and organizer for the FIRST robotics competitions.
In the 15 years she has coached, the team has made it to the Santa Clara County finals 12 times, and has won the Santa Clara County championship seven times and the state championships twice.
"There has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears in the past 15 years," Morrella admits.
The champions
This year the Lincoln High School team set a California mock trial record. For the second year in a row, the team placed first in the California Mock Trial Competition.
The team beat Lynbrook High School's team in the county finals on Feb. 13 and came in first at the state competition in San Jose on March 22.
The students are now preparing for the national competition in Minnesota. While they had six months to prepare for the county and state competitions, they now have just four weeks to review a brand-new court case for the national competition.
For participation on the team, students earn school credit in the social sciences, humanities or as an elective. While the class normally lasts one hour after school every day, around competition time the class practices several hours a day and on weekends and holidays, Morrella says.
The new case for the national competition is based on the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald ship, which was launched in 1958 and sank in Lake Superior, Mich., in 1975, killing a 29-person crew. The prosecution in the fictional case is representing a mother of one of the crewmembers who is suing the shipping company for negligence and the wrongful death of her son.
"We're all getting exposed to a topic none of us know anything about--shipping," Morrella says.
Only information in the book provided by the Constitutional Rights Foundation can be used in a mock trial. But while no outside material can be used, Morrella has ordered a documentary about the event because, "I feel like the more educated the students are the better; even if they can't use that information."
Team members credit Morrella with their success. "It is necessary for anyone planning to win anything to have a good teacher," says Willow Glen resident Jenny Roberts, who played a prosecution attorney in the county and state competitions. "Mrs. Morrella motivates us and whips us into shape."
Teammate Jonathan Foresee, 18, agrees. "Mrs. Morrella is very demanding of you to give it your all, and she is very devoted to the class," he says. "She is very insightful and has learned a lot about the law in the past 15 years."
Foresee says he particularly likes that Morrella brings experts into the class. He played a police officer in the past competition and says it was helpful to have real officers and sergeants visit the class. This is his third year on the team and he says that students spend around seven hours a week rehearsing, but Morrella spends a minimum of 10 hours a week.
"She is always on the mock trial Yahoo! group too," which he says is a way for the team to communicate via the Internet. "She puts in a lot of time outside her normal life."
Morrella says she did not know much about law before becoming the team's coach.
"Mrs. Morrella has learned a lot about the law over the years," says Kathleen Stavis, 17, who is on the team for the fourth year, has been accepted to Mills College in Oakland and wants to attend law school at UC-Berkley in the future. "She also helps us with grammar and is very observant. She even points out if I fiddle my fingers."
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Law Lessons: Willow Glen resident Kris Morrella, Lincoln High School Mock Trial team coach, resurrected the mock trial program at the school 15 years ago.
The excitement of a trial
Unlike a real trial, which has no time limit, a mock trial is timed and lasts between two and three hours. And while most of the material is memorized, there are some surprises.
"It is a combination of knowing ahead of time what the other side will bring up and always having to think on your feet," Roberts says. "I enjoy being in court and I love when I start arguing and things come out beautifully."
Those in charge of the pretrial speech have the challenge of speaking first, convincing the judge to accept evidence in a case and answering the judge's questions.
"If a judge asks lots of questions, what should be a four-minute speech can last one hour. It can be grueling," says senior Rasna Sandhu.
The county and state competition was called People v. Price. The fictional defendant, Syd Price, was accused of being an ecoterrorist and burning down a ski lodge; the defense contended she was a harmless environmentalist.
In the last trial, Sandhu had to argue that the evidence the police officer found in the case should be admitted. Hamilton defended the client, stating that the police officer illegally searched the truck, and saying the gas can found should not be admitted as evidence.
"I was using the Fourth Amendment, which says all persons are secure against unreasonable search and seizures," Hamilton says.
This is Sandhu's second year on the team. She says she didn't know what pretrial was before she joined the team; she enjoys debating the evidence and she wishes she had joined earlier.
A few times a week a volunteer attorney helps the team write the material and performs cross-examinations. To practice for the state competition, Judge Judy Fogel opened up her courtroom at the Federal Court in downtown San Jose. Superior Court Judge Jaime Jacobs-May volunteered last year to help the team prepare for the national competition.
Last year the team placed fifth in the nation out of 44 teams, behind Iowa, New Jersey, Washington and Arizona.
Morrella has learned from her mistakes at last year's national competition. She learned that the nationals are a jury trial, while the state is a bench trial, so the students must make eye contact with the jurors in addition to judges and attorneys, she says.
Last year she didn't know that she should arrange a scrimmage before their trip, so she wants to arrange a scrimmage with one of the top 10 teams from last year, she says.
Another thing she will change this year is the amount of hours the team practices for the nationals. Last year team members practiced in front of so many judges they got conflicting advice, had no time to digest the information, had no downtime and were so frustrated they cried, Morrella says.
"This year they will go to a real court a minimum of four times," Morrella says. "The kids would like to do more, but it's too hard on them. It worked last year, though, because they were very prepared."
The future
Morrella and Towery decided that once one of them retired from their job, they would both quit coaching the mock trial team. Towery is not retiring from the San Jose law firm Hoge, Fenton, Jones and Appel, but will stop coaching because Morrella is retiring.
But the team is in good hands. Jenny Thomas, an alumna from the class of 1993, has been helping coach the team this year and will take over when Morrella leaves. Thomas has a bachelor's degree in psychology and social work from San Jose State University and is in the process of getting her teaching credentials.
She practically stumbled into the job because she was visiting her former teacher, Morrella, when the coaching job opened up. She says she almost didn't want to become a teacher because it came so easily to her, but she really loves it.
Attorneys are on hand to replace Towery as well. Dan Ballesteros, who has helped coach the team for eight years, will step in, as will Tina Cahalan, who has helped students with the pretrial for a year. Both are from the same firm as Towery.
For now the team is focused on the national competition. The team is narrowed down to eight members from 18, but Morrella wants everyone to go on the trip. Those not on the team are understudies who help the team rehearse--some students assume roles on both the prosecution and defense sides.
While not in competition, the team will tour Minnesota.
"They will get to get a sense of the culture and geography of the area," Morrella says. They will have a historical tour, visit the Great Mall, and watch a documentary. The total cost of the trip is $15,000. So far they have raised funds from the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the San Jose Unified School District, parents' employers and several law firms.
To find out more about the team, or to make donations, visit www.lincolnmocktrial.org or call 408.535.6300.
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
