The gloves were too small. O.J. Simpson shook his head, looking quite proud of himself, holding up the unfitting gloves to the jury in a courtroom in 1993. These gloves were the evidence the prosecution team had against Simpson, a token found at the crime scene. Simpson was on trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. The prosecution knew that the only way to sway the majority black jury was to present an argument that was bias-proof. It was the prosecution who decided to let him try on the gloves – a pivotal mistake on their part which led to the verdict of “not guilty.”

At this point in time, America was torn. Here was a black man on trial for the murder of two people. Just one year ago, the Rodney King incident shook Los Angeles and ignited anti-LAPD protests. To say the least, the prosecution could not mess up at all.

Fighting for justice can be hard, even if they were on the right side of it. This is why Monta Vista Mock Trial and their advisor, current Stanford law student Amy Senia, spend their weekly meetings watching real court cases. Every time the lawyers made a mistake, Senia paused the video and asked the students, “what could they have done better?”

Senia saw a job posting for MVHS Mock Trial amongst internships at her school and she knew she wanted to take this job because of her past experience in Mock Trial in Brown University, her alma mater.

“Whether you know it or not, law guides the way that our society functions,” Senia said.

Mock Trial’s annual competition was held in January, and Senia felt extremely proud of how her team did. For now, they are sharpening their skills and looking into more invitational competitions to gain more experience.  

They have meetings every week, usually from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. At this particular meeting, they watched snippets of Netflix shows “The people v. O.J. Simpson” and “How to get away with murder” to see reenactments of real court cases.

After some critiquing, the club moved onto roleplay. The students each took roles as either a witness, the prosecution, or the defendant. They had a packet of judicial information for reference.

After 20 minutes of preparing their witness, the students went to court.

“It’s so cool because I get to put myself in their shoes” Jain said.

What Senia really appreciates about the team is how they can be so passionate but also so silly. In between exercises, there will always be laughter in the room. The students have also grown extremely close with each other after hours of practice and competition season. For next year, Senia wants to enroll the team in more competitions instead of only one per year. At that, there will also be a summer prerequisite mock trial for those who want to get a headstart on next year.

“The camaraderie is important for a good team because you have to trust each other,” Senia said.