Grady High’s mock trial team wins world championship

UPDATE: Read AJC article here.

Congratulations go out to Grady High School‘s vaunted mock trial team, which came home this past weekend with a unique world title. Twelve members of the team, which previously place third in national competition this past summer, won the Empire City Mock Trial Association Tournament held in New York City. The team had been preparing for a case since July and had to argue both sides in the weekend competition. After racking up one of the two highest scores through the four rounds of competition, the team faced, and defeated, a home-schooled team from North Carolina.

We took some time to speak to two of the top competitors, juniors Shaun Kleber and Elizabeth McGlamry, along with attorney-coach Carl Gebo (of Adorno & Yoss), who works with the team. Kleber won an award for best attorney and best witness, while McGlamry won best overall attorney for the competition. Here they explain how that plays out, and how participating in Grady’s program makes them better students.

The school’s mock trial team keeps getting better, having placed 13th nationally in 2000, 16th in 2005, eighth in 2009 and third this year. The team faced competition from 29 other teams including teams from Ireland, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Canada. The win earned the team coverage from WXIA (11Alive). Congratulations also go out to Grady head coach Brian Leahy and their teammates: Egan Allen, Abena Amoakuh, David Bufkin, Jasmine Burnett, Atiana Johnson, Troy Kleber, Miller Lansing, Katherine Sherwood, Sam Weinstock and Alix Youngblood. Leahy was assisted by Gebo and fellow local attorney Cecily McLeod.