Mock trial teams from both Pomona College and Claremont McKenna College (CMC) have advanced to the Opening Round Championship Series Tournament (ORCS) in Los Angeles this March. Both teams received their bid following successes at the American Mock Trial Association’s Regional Tournament on Feb. 10 and 11.
For Pomona and CMC, this continues a trend of success. Both teams consistently rank in the top bracket at regionals and have entered the opening round of the championship series multiple times.
Each school’s team consists of multiple trial teams. For each school, around 25 students are split into three sections: the A, B and C team — which are decided based on skill.
This year, Pomona and CMC’s A-teams both advanced to the ORCS. However, CMC’s other two teams earned runner-up accolades, which put them on the waitlist.
Dylan Bousquette PO ’24, vice president of Pomona’s team, said their team’s sense of community and positive energy was key to the team’s success in their most recent competition.
“There were a lot of nerves, a lot of big feelings going into [the regional tournament],” he said. “As a program, we tend to do much better when we do have a good time and are focused on being optimistic … that really helped us perform better and took the pressure a little bit off of ourselves.”
Scripps College also sent a team to regionals but they did not receive a bid to advance. Despite their competitive season being over, Lillian Ellis SC ’24, president of Scripps’ team, expressed her pride over their performance at the regional competition.
“Our regional competition was the best performance we’ve had all year,” she said.
Each team at regionals consists of six to 10 students. At the tournament, teams competed a total of four times — twice on the prosecuting side and twice on the side of the defense.
Within each of these sides, three students will compete as attorneys and three as witnesses. In a six-person team, every member will compete on both the prosecuting and defense side of the case. Teams are then scored by judges in several functions at the conclusion of the trial.
According to Nicole Player PO ’24, captain of Pomona’s B team, the preparation that went into getting the teams ready for the regional competition was extensive.
“We would practice once a week until about the week before a competition, where we were practicing every day,” she said.
Player explained that practices typically consisted of members familiarizing themselves with the case law, studying the rules of evidence and preparing their speeches.
Hadley Iselin SC ’25, vice president of the Scripps mock trial team, described a similarly rigorous practice schedule.
“The Scripps team requires a lot of its members to meet two times a week,” Iselin said. “[This is in addition to] extensive individual reading and independent work.”
Ellis echoed this sentiment. She explained that mock trial is a major time commitment.
“We tell people at the beginning of the year it’s like adding another class,” she said. “Especially for the captains and members of the executive board, it’s an extremely big commitment.”
Ellis suggested that the student-run nature of their team added to this commitment. However, she said she enjoys the autonomy she feels it gives both herself and the team.
“We do all our own coordination and administration,” she said. “It’s been really empowering, not only to compete but to also organize it all ourselves.”
Brandolyn Thomas PO ’24, president of Pomona’s team, explained that they have a similar structure despite the fact that it’s relatively uncommon.
“A lot of schools that we go up against, the majority of them have a coach,” she said.
Beyond their student-run administrations, the mock trial teams at both Pomona and Scripps are similar in their relatively young demographics. For Iselin, the presence of so many new underclassmen members creates a lot of excitement.
“With such a young team, we’ve had a lot of growth,” Iselin said. “There’s a lot of potential I see for the future of Scripps’ mock trial.”
Lexi Duffy PO ’26, a member of Pomona’s team, had similarly positive things to say about Pomona’s young group of students. She tied the first-years directly to the success of the team at the regional competition, recalling how rewarding it was to see them work their way up and compete for the first time.
“We’ve got a really bright bunch and that really showed through,” she said.
Looking forward, Pomona and CMC’s teams are continuing their preparation for the ORCS tournament on March 8-10 in hopes of placing in the top sixth of teams, which would advance them to the national championship tournament.
Eva Pruitt CM ’25 said she is excited for what’s to come.
“We have such amazing team members who are all committed to the team’s success and collaborative culture,” she said. “It is so rewarding to compete together.”
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