Meet the Alumni Coaches

 
 

Lia Mimun (she/her)

Lia Mimun is a crisis communications and media strategy professional at Brunswick Group, a critical issues advisory firm. She specializes in supporting foundations, universities, museums, nonprofits, and the occasional tech company through high-profile, above-the-fold media crises. Her work includes:

  • Trump administration investigations into universities

  • High-profile litigation and jury trials

  • Broadcast media trainings for C-suite executives

Lia graduated cum laude from UC Berkeley in 2024 with a degree in History. As a Cal Mock Trial competitor, she earned seven individual attorney awards, and her teams won five SPAMTA awards. She was Vice President of CMT from 2022-2023, captained the program’s Nationals team in 2023, and captained Berkeley A in 2024. Additionally, she helped lead the two Berkeley B teams to qualify for Nationals in the past decade—first in 2023 as captain and prosecution closing attorney, and again in 2026 as a coach.

Lia primarily coaches Berkeley’s split-stacked Gold team with her partner, Dani Sosa. In 2026, she coached Berkeley B after Regionals, which placed 3rd at ORCS with a 7-1 record and earned an Honorable Mention at Nationals with a 6-6 record—the highest B team Nationals record in CMT history.

Outside of mock trial, Lia spent two years in college working at Inequality Media, where she collaborated with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich to write and produce content for his TikTok, YouTube, X, and Facebook pages. She also interned at ABC7 Bay Area, writing articles and producing broadcast segments on local nonprofits. Her senior history thesis examined the rise of Ayn Rand’s campus following in the 1970s. She now lives in San Francisco with her partner, Dani Sosa, and their cat, Kiki.

Darius Parakh (he/him)

Darius Parakh is a youth justice advocate with a dedicated history of working in juvenile court systems. In his role as the legislative analyst for the Office of Youth and Community Restoration (OYCR), Darius proposes, analyzes, and tracks legislation impacting the rights of California’s 2,000+ incarcerated youth. Driven by his passion to ensure that all youth are treated with dignity and respect, Darius aims to develop policies supporting the development, education, and rehabilitation of youth involved in California’s justice system.
 
A native to the Bay Area, Darius received a B.A. with distinction from U.C. Berkeley, with minors in Public Policy and Human Rights. In college, Darius was a four-year competitor for Cal Mock Trial. Over his career, he earned six individual attorney awards, including an All-National Attorney award from the Los Angeles Open Round Championship Series (ORCS) tournament. He was Vice-President of the program from 2023-24 and competed on Berkeley A from 2022-24.
 
Since graduating from Berkeley, Darius has returned to mock trial to coach both high school and collegiate mock trial teams. Across the Bay, in San Francisco, Darius has helped coach the Lowell High Mock Trial since 2024. As a coach at Berkeley, Darius works with both new and returning members. He primarily coaches Berkeley’s Blue team, alongside Avni Wadhwani. To date, Darius and Avni’s teams have been successful at both the regional and national level. Post regionals in 2026, he also coached Berkeley A, which advanced through ORCS with an 8-0 record (1st place) and competed at Nationals with a 6th place finish.
 
Darius lives in San Francisco with his cat, Shikari. In his free time, you can find him at a local pottery studio.

Dani Sosa (they/them)

Dani Sosa (they/them) is a research analyst based in San Francisco, CA. They first got involved in mock trial in 2015 and have been coaching since 2023.

Dani started learning trial advocacy at Martin Luther King Jr. High School, under the mentorship of Hon. Jackson Lucky. As a high school junior, Dani and their teammates won the Riverside County mock trial competition and finished third place at the California State Finals. That year, Dani was recognized as one of the best trial advocates in California.

Dani was a member of Cal Mock Trial from 2019 through 2023. They spent time on all of Cal's teams: first B, then Blue/Gold, then A. While they started as just an attorney, Dani eventually expanded their role to include playing sympathetic and character witnesses. In 2022 and 2023, Dani attended Nationals with the A team and B team, respectively. In 2022, Dani and the team finished 5th place in their division with a 7-4-1 record, while in 2023 Dani and the team finished with a 4-6-2 record. During the latter, Dani was recognized as a top advocate, receiving an Intercollegiate All-American Attorney award. Outside of the AMTA-sponsored competitions, Dani received eight top attorney and witness awards during their time competing.

As a coach, Dani has worked with both new and returning members. They primarily coach Gold team, alongside their partner Lia Mimun. Dani and Lia's teams have been successful at both the regional and national levels, and they are extremely proud to have coached one of Berkeley's newest All-American Attorneys. Dani also help found a new mock trial program at San Leandro High School and has coached there since 2022.

Outside of coaching, Dani is a research analyst working on questions of public accountability and effective delivery of social benefits. They spent three years working under Congress at the non-partisan Government Accountability Office and now produce research for the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

Dani lives in San Francisco with their partner, Lia, and Siamese cat, Kiki Mimosa. Their free time is spent in the parks — typically Alamo Square or the Panhandle — or the theaters — Roxie or the Presidio.

Avni Wadhwani (she/her)

[bio incoming!]