The Dos Pueblos High School mock trial team, fresh off its run to the California State Championship round, has been selected for the Empire Mock Trial World Championship Invitational tournament that will held in New York City this October.

The tournament is considered the nation’s most prestigious high school mock trial tournament, bringing together the top 36 teams from across the country and around the globe — including teams from the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, South Korea, Canada and Australia.

This year’s tournament will be held Oct. 25-28 at the Kings County Supreme Court, Civil Division in downtown Brooklyn.

Teams are invited to apply only if they have finished at the top of their state tournament and are selected only after an extensive application process that takes into consideration the team’s competitive history as well as factors such as sportsmanship, ethics, tradition and motivation.

Dos Pueblos is the only mock trial team in California to finish in the top 10 at state in the past three years. Last year’s team advanced all the way to the state final, losing a close match against La Reina High School from Ventura County (which also has been selected for this year’s Empire tournament). The Dos Pueblos team’s faculty adviser, Bill Woodard, was also selected as the Constitutional Rights Foundation’s 2012 Adult Advocate of the Year for his work with the Dos Pueblos program.

The DP team of 11 students will now spend their summer and fall preparing a new case and learning the college mock trial rules that are used in the Empire tournament. Jeff Campbell, Dos Pueblos mock trial alum and current member of the college mock trial national championship team from Duke University, is volunteering this summer to help the team prepare.

The team is also gearing up for a fundraising campaign to raise the necessary funds to travel to New York City for the tournament. Tax-deductible donations can be made to the Dos Pueblos High School mock trial program. Email Woodard at bwoodard@dphs.org for more information.

The members of the Dos Pueblos mock trial team that will be competing at Empire are Hannah Cruz, Alison Mally, Nimisha Shinday, Delia Bullock, Madeleine Centrella, Bela Lafferty, Madeline Matthys, Camille Wyss, Sophia Zheng, Sean Strong and Ami Thakrar.

In addition to Woodard and Jeff Campbell, the coaching staff includes Maureen Grattan, Joel Block and Scott Campbell.

— Bill Woodard is the assistant principal at Dos Pueblos High School and the faculty adviser for its Mock Trial team.