Midtown’s Moot Court program reached a historic milestone on April 18, competing in the National High School Moot Court Championship for the first time since the team was founded in 2016. Two teams competed in the online tournament, placing among the top 60 teams in the country out of nearly 350 nationwide.

Advisor James Sullivan said the achievement reflects years of steady growth and a standout group of students across grade levels.

“Our two national qualifier teams were among the 60 best in the country,” Sullivan said. “We have been on the upswing as competitors and had outstanding students this year, from the senior level all the way down to our freshman level.”

Sophomores Abby and Arvid Krey-Patel made up the first qualifying team, while seniors Zelda Lerner and Star Winborn rounded out the second qualifying team. Sullivan credited the team’s work ethic and a specific skill that set them apart on the national stage.

“They are hard workers, fast learners and have one specific and essential moot court skill: they are the best group I have ever coached at answering the judge’s questions in a conversational and knowledgeable way,” Sullivan said.

Senior Zelda Lerner said the team did not know they had qualified until about two weeks before the competition.

“Getting to nationals took a lot of patience,” Lerner said. “My teammate and I didn’t find out that we qualified until about two weeks before nationals, so our mindset was very much practicing as much as we could, reviewing the case law precedent and just hammering the case to try to do the best we could.”

Senior Star Winborn said she first realized nationals were within reach earlier in the season.

“The moment I realized nationals was actually in reach was when I learned about Zelda, and I reached the quarterfinals of the Regional Duke Tournament,” Winborn said. “That moment shifted Moot Court from being a fun club activity to something I want to take seriously beyond high school.”

As a senior, Lerner said competing at nationals carried extra meaning.

“It was really exciting because I am a senior, and this is my last year on the team,” Lerner said. “Being part of the team that is going to nationals for the first time was really exciting and rewarding. I am just so proud of my teammate and the other team that made it to nationals.”

Winborn said the opportunity felt both surreal and motivating.

“The most exciting part of competing at nationals was simply being able to compete at such a high level during my last season of high school Moot Court,” Winborn said. “This was most exciting to me because nationals always seemed far away until the quarterfinals of Duke.“

Lerner added that the level of competition was daunting.

“What was intimidating was the caliber of schools we were competing against,” Lerner said. “There were schools from places that specialize in law, so that was intimidating.”

Although nationals were held online, Sullivan said the preparation happened long before the competition began. The team had already built momentum throughout the year, advancing two teams to the Elite Eight at the Duke Regional and earning a first-place finish for the freshman team at the Soulstice Moot Court competition.

“I told them that this Nationals experience is just the whipped cream on top of the sundae — this has already been our best moot court year ever in competition,” Sullivan said.

Lerner, who has competed for several years, said she saw the most improvement in her ability to respond to judges’ questions.

“The way moot court works is we have our prepared arguments, but the judges can interrupt at any time and ask questions about anything related to the case,” Lerner said. “I got better at thinking on my feet.”

Winborn said she experienced similar growth.

“This season has boosted my confidence dramatically,” Winborn said. “As I’ve learned new strategies, such as how to handle questions I’m not sure the answer to, incorporating new information into my argument on the spot, and learning to converse with the judges, I have felt increasingly more comfortable in the Moot Court space.”

Sullivan noted that Midtown competes against programs with far more resources, including schools in Florida and California that offer moot court classes and practice five days a week. Midtown, on the other hand, practices once a week and encourages students to stay involved in other extracurriculars. 

“At Midtown, our moot court team is the opposite — we are ‘the little engine that could,’” Sullivan said. “Given that, I am very proud that our students excelled so beautifully this year — they did an amazing job; historic by our standards.”

Lerner said she wished she could reassure her freshman-year self that the work would eventually pay off.

“I would tell my younger self to just keep working hard, and it will pay off,” Lerner said. “Last year did not go the way I wanted it to, so I felt a little discouraged, but I would tell myself to just keep doing things that I enjoy doing and that will pay off.”

Beyond rankings or results, Sullivan said he hopes students will walk away with something deeper.

“Confidence in their ability to take on a truly difficult legal case and argue their position toe-to-toe against some of the best talent in the country,” Sullivan said. “Our moot court students are rock stars.”