Central Islip Legal Eagles mock trial team has won their first competition of the year! The team has spent about 2 months practicing with the co-advisors of the team, Amy Harrington and  Michelle Alvarez, as well as their lawyer-coach, Darlene Jorif-Mangane, who came to the school to give the team advice on their performance. The team received great feedback from judge, LaToya James, which helped push them to their win.     

On a mock trial team, students work on civil or criminal cases and learn about the law, as well as appropriate courtroom decorum. The club takes dedication and hard work as well as some pretty intelligent students. Students take on the challenge of analyzing affidavits of witnesses, as well as evidence in order to build a case and argue against the opposing side. Each year schools all over New York compete in the New York State Bar Association Mock Trial Competition. 

The first competition was home in the Little Theater. The Central Islip team competed on the plaintiffs’ side while Brentwood competed on the defense side. The civil case is about a construction worker named Remington Stone, who is suing the homeowner of a house they worked at, Marley Miser as well as Acme Construction Company, their employer. The case had great points for both parties and is certainly a challenge for anybody working on it. However, Central Islip Legal Eagles did an incredible job at conquering that challenge for their first competition as the plaintiffs’ side. The Attorney parts were appointed to Emmanuel Cruz, the president of the Legal Eagles team, Fernando Paulino, and Jhouneudy Sanchez. The three witnesses consisted of Remington Stone, who was represented by Berley Jean Paul, the expert witness Alexis Anderson, who was represented by Vanessa Villanueva, and the character witness Dakota Springs who was represented by Toni-Ann Bernard. The seasoned judge who witnessed the competition was judge LaToya James. She did an excellent job at giving a professional aspect to the case and giving excellent feedback to both parties at the end of the competition. 

The Legal Eagles competition team has an upcoming competition on February 8th, 2023, this time competing as the defense side against Bay Shore mock trial team. They are practicing as hard as ever and hope to add another win under their belt.