Published October 1, 2025
BY GRACE GRAHL
With the mock trial 2025-26 season on the horizon, the Carmel team will be facing international competition in an online tournament this month and the Empire World Championship in November.
CHS will be participating in the online Champions League, a part of the national mock trial organization Empire, from Oct. 14-17. Over a four-day period, the team will compete in four trials leading into a playoff series, the winner being named Empire Champion.
For the international world championships, Carmel will travel to Chicago in November where they will also participate in acts of community service and the city itself with their adviser Bill Schrier, a former attorney who uses his expertise to guide the students throughout the year.
“It really is an unparalleled opportunity to get exposed to rigorous intellectual academic content in a team context,” Schrier explains. “It’s truly a team sport, except it’s academic.”
The team was upperclassman-heavy last year, with 2025 graduates Julia Jackson and Brianna Sciuto fulfilling the roles of president and vice president. This year, senior Daniela Foley and junior Meya Lin stepped into the positions of president and vice president, with Foley also becoming an attorney.
Senior Daniela Foley listens to cross-examination at the 2024 Empire Chicago World Championship tournament. Courtesy of DANIELA FOLEY
“This is my first year being an attorney, and I’ve liked it way more than I anticipated I would,” Foley notes. “I thought I was going to be really stressed out, and it was going to be a lot of work, but it’s a whole different experience of mock trial.”
Mock trial is a re-creation of the modern courtroom with a defense and prosecution team intent on creating a perfect trial in order to earn points. The team with the highest score wins the tournament.
“It’s my second family,” explains CHS sophomore Abby Brown, a mock trial witness. “I’ve met so many people that I’m extremely close with, some friendships I know are going to last a lifetime.”
Lunch meetings are every Monday in Room 24 although the team mostly practices outside of school and on weekends.
