The Paly Mock Trial team is preparing for the state competition after its recent domination in the Santa Clara County League. The state competition will take place March 23-25 at the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland.

The county competition went “incredibly well,” according to junior defense attorney Andrew Nizamian. From its quarter finals match to the final victory over long-time rival Lynbrook High School, Paly won all of its matches by a margin of at least 25 points, Nizamian said. Over the entire course of the county competitions, the Paly team was “objected” to only a few times, and those objections were usually overruled, according to Nizamian.

“It was a pleasure to watch,” senior prosecuting attorney Rachel Wolf said. “It was definitely defense’s best trial ever.”

While Paly’s defense remains undefeated (5-0), the team’s prosecuting attorneys never had a chance to compete during the county playoffs, according to Nizamian. The random selection process chose Paly’s defense to play in the quarter finals. The rule that prevents schools to compete twice in the same way again caused the defense to face the judges for the semi-finals because Paly’s prosecution had already played Leland High School’s defense before. Moreover, when Lynbrook won the coin flip before the final match, they decided to have their prosecution compete.

“The defense is rock-solid, and they deserve a rest,” Wolf said. “Prosecution has been practicing after the final match, and we will also be rock-solid [when the state competition draws near].”

After winning the county title, the defense team has been “chilling for a bit,” according to Nizamian. The team’s intense, 10-12 hours of practice per week resumed Wednesday night, when the players met to review their county final match.

The Santa Clara County league is one of the most competitive leagues in the nation. Filled with remarkable law firms, the 25 teams in the county receive assistance from prestigious sources around them, usually from real lawyers. Paly not only won in this league, but also won against strong competitors like Tamalpais High School, which won states in 2005 at the Santa Clara County Invitational that took place earlier this year.

“We have so many seniors, so it’s good to cap-off with states,” Wolf said

If the team wins states, the team advances to Nationals. For the national competitions, the team will send eight of its players to Dallas, Texas, where they will be given a whole new case and only three weeks to master it.

With boosted confidence gained by this year’s record, the team has high expectations for the state competition.

“We will do pretty well in Oakland, at least be in the top ten,” Nizamian said.

Wolf added: “We have a potential to dominate.”