Local High School Students to Compete in Statewide Mock Trial Competition
ERIE, Pa - The Erie County Bar Association (ECBA) will host the District 2 competition for the Statewide Mock Trial Championships on Tuesday, February 5th, Wednesday, February 6th and Thursday, February 7th at the Erie County Court House. Students from the following high schools will participate in the competition: Cambridge Springs, Collegiate Academy, Conneaut, East, Fort LeBoeuf, McDowell, Northwestern, Oil City, Saegertown, Sheffield, Warren, and Youngsville.
These schools are among the 333 teams from 276 schools across the state of Pennsylvania competing in the district level of the competition. Pennsylvania’s mock trial program is in its 30th year and is one of the largest in the nation.
Sponsored statewide by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the mock trial competition gives student teams, consisting of six or more members, the opportunity to argue both sides of a case in an actual courtroom before a judge. This year’s case is a criminal action charging a real estate developer with reckless homicide in the deaths of two people at a construction site following the collapse of a construction crane.
Volunteer lawyers, judges and teachers are crucial to offering this program locally. The students, who play the roles of lawyers, witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants, are assisted by teacher coaches and attorney advisors in preparing for competition. Members of the ECBA volunteer to serve as jurors in the trials, determining the winners based on the teams’ abilities to prepare their cases, present arguments and follow court rules.
The district and regional levels of the competition will continue throughout February and March with 12 teams advancing to the Pennsylvania Bar Association Statewide Mock Trial Championships on March 22nd and 23rd in Harrisburg. The winner of the state championship will represent Pennsylvania at the national mock trial finals to be held May 9-11 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, will provide funding for the statewide competition.
For more information on the 2013 Pennsylvania Bar Association Statewide Mock Trial Championships and to read this year’s case, visit the Young Lawyers Division’s section of the PBA website at http://www.pabar.org/public/yld.
Members of the media are encouraged to attend the trials. For more information or to confirm your attendance, please contact the ECBA at 814-459-3111.
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