PORTLAND — In what Justice Donald Alexander described as a close contest, Cape Elizabeth has won the state’s High School Mock Trial Competition against Lewiston.

Supreme Court Justice Alexander presided over the state finals in the Law Court chambers Thursday, an event organized by the Maine State Bar Association.

According to MSBA, the competition attracts at least two dozen teams totaling more than 400 students every year. In September, students receive a fictional criminal or civil case, the text of which is relevant to high school students, and teams work out the legal issues before trying their cases in actual courtrooms.

Presentations by the students are not scripted, and the competition is judged on student presentations, not the merits of the cases before the court.

Lewiston students defeated Brewer High School in the quarter final last month, according to coach Michelle Crowley, and had defeated Berwick Academy in the semi-final round before facing Cape Elizabeth.

Lewiston High began competing in mock trials in 1995. The school has made it to the state finals several times, but has never won the state title.