2023-2024 Executive Board
Sonali Mehta ’24 – President
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Sonali is a 3L from Dallas, Texas. She started doing mock trial in the eighth grade, and is somehow still doing fake law thirteen years later. Prior to HLSMTA, Sonali competed and coached for Duke Mock Trial. Sonali has interned for the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and the DOJ Civil Rights Appellate office, and she hopes to pursue a career in civil rights litigation. Although Sonali has achieved many of her mock trial hopes and dreams, she never bagged her white whale: convincing the one and only Matthew Besman to compete with her.
Kyle Parker ’25 – VP of Fundraising & Communications
Pronouns: he, him, his
Kyle is a 2L from Naperville, Illinois. He studied biology and Spanish at Case Western in sunny Cleveland, Ohio where he competed on the mock trial team. After college he spent two years teaching on the somewhat sunnier island of O’ahu. Now he’s ready to return to having all four seasons and spending too much time doing mock trial.
Kate Hostal ’25 – VP of Travel
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Kate is a 2L from the sunny state of Arizona! When she’s not wondering why it’s no longer perpetually 95 degrees outside, Kate enjoys weightlifting, doing puzzles, and attending concerts. Kate can’t wait to begin competing with HLSMTA, though she’s hoping someone will eventually tell her who we are mocking and who is on trial!
Heather Pincus ’24 – VP of Fundraising & Internal Tournament
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Heather is a 3L from McLean, Virginia. Heather competed for (and currently coaches!) Wesleyan’s undergraduate mock trial team. After college, she worked in economic consulting here in Boston and has been deemed “essentially a New Englander at this point.” She spurned this title and spent her 1L summer closer to home at the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC, but she split the geographic difference as a 2L Summer Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore this past summer.
Seva Castleberry ’25 – VP of Recruitment
Pronouns: he, him, his
Seva is 2L from Los Angeles. He studied sociology at Duke University, where he competed on their mock trial team for 4 years. His favorite federal rule of evidence is 407.
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2023-24 Members
Gabriel Bongiorno ’24
Gabriel is a 3L from New Jersey. He is a newcomer to the mock trial scene, but he hopes his years of theater experience will make up for that. When he’s not studying, Gabe can be found on the volleyball court or smoking Vinay at chess.
Soraia Esteves ’24
Soraia is a 3L from Toronto, CA. She studied International Relations, Political Science, and Hispanic Studies at Pepperdine University, where she also competed on the Pepperdine Mock Trial team. Aside from Mock Trial, Soraia is Student Government’s Director of Student Organizations and sits on the boards of the International Law Journal and the Journal on Law and Gender. In her free time, she loves painting, baking, and eating Portuguese food (the superior cuisine in her opinion).
Johanne Karizamimba ’24
Johanne is a 3L from Southeast Missouri. He quickly left Missouri during undergrad, attending Columbia University in New York. Johanne actually competed for the Columbia mock trial team—apparently he liked it so much that he found himself on this team! When he isn’t objecting to everything he can at any moment, Johanne is a big movie-watcher. And yes, he will ask you what your favorite movie is, and he will judge you for your answer.
John Lowry ’24
John is a 3L from Bethesda, MD. He worked on the Senate Judiciary Committee for four years before law school and is completing a concurrent MPA at Princeton. This past summer he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in New York. In his spare time, he races triathlons, fences, and works as a volunteer Firefighter/EMT.
Michael Nanchanatt ’24
Pronouns: he/him/his
Michael is a 3L from the greatest state – you guessed it! New Jersey! He started competing in mock trial in high school and hasn’t escaped yet. Since starting, he has been in every type of competitive role and has also coached, judged, and taught a mock trial class for a summer program. Aside from mock trial, Michael is the Treasurer of the new Creative Writing Collective and is in the Officer Selection Program of the Marines Corps. In his free time, he enjoys reading, working out, and convincing others to move to New Jersey (the ones who deserve to live there at least).
Sheila Panyam ’24
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Sheila is a 3L from Portland, Oregon. She graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in philosophy and classics. After competing on UW’s mock trial team, she is excited to continue competing at Harvard. This past summer, she worked at Perkins Coie, and you could find her frequenting tide pools and pirate festivals along the West Coast beaches during her weekends. In her free time, Sheila likes to write historical fiction novels, knit, and play video games. Her favorite band? The only right answer, of course: Queen.
Soojin Park ’24
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Soojin is a 3L from Springfield, Missouri. After growing up in the hometown of Brad Pitt and the world’s largest fork, she studied biology and sociology at Boston College. After college, she did public health research in South Korea through the Fulbright Program and then did a master’s in bioethics at the med school. In her free time, you can find her running or cycling.
Nikol Tang ’24
Nikol is a 3L from Nanjing, China. She went to Columbia and majored in Political Science before coming to HLS. She had a brief mock trial career in high school, which was abruptly cut short upon twice being rejected by Columbia mock trial, so she was pleasantly surprised to have been adopted by HLSMTA. She was at Selendy Gay Elsberg in her 1L summer and will also be at Gibson Dunn for her 2L summer, both in NYC. In her free time, she enjoys dancing classical ballet, and spends waaaaaay too much time watching ballet on Youtube.
Mohini Tangri ’24
Mohini is an energetic 3L from Colorado. She graduated from Washington and Lee University in 2019 and was admitted to HLS through the Junior Deferral Program, suspiciously missing all of the Covid Zoom School of Law years. In between undergrad and HLS, she taught high school mathematics and developed a very high tolerance for nonsense that has served her well when dealing with improper objections during mock competitions. At HLS, Mohini is involved in Mock Trial, the Harvard Journal on Legislation, the Harvard International Journal, and works hard to contribute socially to her affinity groups. She will also be a Resident Advisor in Gropius (Ames) this year. Mohini is generally interested in pursuing cyberlaw/corporate governance/startup work after law school but has yet to figure out the specifics. Outside of school, Mohini loves to learn new languages/practice the ones she knows (Hindi/Spanish!), chat with her sister Rohini, travel, and eat good food.
Stephanie Walsh ’24
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Stephanie is a 3L from Norwalk, Connecticut. She was a Political Science and English major at Boston College before coming to HLS, perhaps making her the team’s biggest New Englander (and she, like Boston, definitively runs on Dunkin’). Stephanie competed in mock trial during undergrad and aspires to one day fulfill her (and Michael Nanchanatt’s) dream of using the ancient documents exception to hearsay (it feels very Nicholas Cage National Treasure). This past summer, she worked at the Center for Law and Education here in Boston.
Elias Neibart ’25
Elias is a 2L from New Jersey. He received his MPhil from the University of Cambridge and his undergraduate degree from Emory University. At Emory, he competed on the mock trial team for four years, and was selected to compete at Trial By Combat 2020. Before coming to Harvard, he also worked as a Trial Preparation Assistant with the New York County District Attorney’s Office in the Special Victims Bureau.
Angela Li ’25
Angela is a long-awaited 2L from sunny San Diego, California. Admitted
through Harvard’s Junior Deferral Program, Angela spent her pre-law
days as a Computer Science major at Caltech and a software engineer at
Facebook (“Meta”). Though she spent a significant amount of time doing
Congressional Debate in high school, neither Caltech nor Meta were
establishments that had a Mock Trial team, so it has taken Angela
quite a while to get a shot at her very own Legally Blonde moment. She
is coming for it now! Angela’s passions include advocacy for
underrepresented minorities, wondering what her dog is thinking
(likely nothing), telling potentially-embellished Silicon Valley
stories, and doing outdoor workouts.
Alec Winshel ’25
Alec Winshel is a 2L from Los Angeles. After one too many sunburns, he left the ideal coast to study Business & Data Science at chilly New York University. He realized the error of his ways and returned home to work in advertising. Alec has competed in mock trial during both high school and college, but his palms still get sweaty just before making an objection. In his spare time he enjoys running, cooking various soups, and playing basketball.