By Julie Kayzerman, Associate Director of Communications and Marketing
Each September, members of the Newark Academy Mock Trial team walk into Benson Hawk’s classroom as eager students. Seven months later — after six hours of practice each week (including Saturdays) — they walk out as distinguished attorneys, excellent speakers, and often Essex County Mock Trial Champions: a title the team has claimed 11 times, including this past year, when it progressed to a Top 10 ranking in the state of New Jersey.
For over 35 years, NA’s Mock Trial team has built a reputation for being disciplined, collaborative and highly competitive — at first under the guidance of the late Betty Newman, beloved and dedicated former faculty advisor, and for the past 23 years led by Benson as head faculty advisor.
The team’s legacy of dominance has also benefited greatly from the involvement of volunteer alumni George Brandley ’03, the Hon. Leo M. Gordon ’69 and Matt Mandel ’90, Esq. “We became more competitive when we began involving NA alumni to help us,” Benson says. “Leo has been a major part of our success for the past 20 years and, in the last two years, Matt and George have been hugely important in helping us prepare students to argue at the top level.”
This past January, the school honored Leo for his 20 years of dedicated service to the team when the students presented an abbreviated courtroom case before a jury of alumni, parents and friends, who deliberated and delivered a verdict at the conclusion of the trial.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to represent Newark Academy, and we are so thankful to our in‑school and alumni advisors for challenging us, supporting us, and staying deeply invested in our growth every step of the way,” says Elle Gjivoje ’26, a club leader and defense attorney for the team.
Former Mock Trial member and President of NA’s Alumni Board of Governors Rebecca Moll-Freed ’94, who attended the celebration honoring Leo, was impressed by the caliber of the students competing on the Mock Trial team, which she says helped shape her career as an attorney. “What amazed me most is although so many things have changed about education and technology, the core of the program is still exactly the same: developing students’ ability to think on their feet, cross-examine, and conduct opening and closing arguments.” She adds that students in Mock Trial not only learn how to prepare a solid foundation for a case but also develop the important skill of pivoting comfortably under pressure when things don’t go as anticipated.
Rebecca is just one of several Mock Trial alumni who have gone on to successful law careers, and she credits the team for guiding her career path to become an attorney. She fondly remembers Betty Newman’s tough and honest yet warm guidance, as well as the exposure to real practicing attorneys and judges.
Elle is grateful for this exposure as well. Over the past few years, the team has competed in county finals at the Essex County Bar Association Courthouse in Newark, and during the 2022 – 23 season was even judged by the Honorable Fabiana Pierre-Louis, the first Black woman to serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court.
“Mock Trial is so important because its effects and benefits are two-fold,” Elle says. “Not only does Mock Trial prepare students to critically think beyond NA, advocate for justice and confidently public speak, but it also grants students a tight-knit community that continues communicating far after graduation, the chance to meet real judges and take top-tier internships in NYC and Washington, D.C.”