Pennsylvania High School Mock Trial Competition The Pennsylvania High School Mock Trial Competition is sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. At the local level, the Mock Trial Competition receives a great deal of support from Lycoming Law Association members and other attorneys who volunteer to serve as jurors for the trials conducted by the high school students and Judges who volunteer their time to serve as the presiding judges for the trials. Attorneys also volunteer their time to serve as advisors for the teams of students. Lycoming Law Association member John Pietrovito has served as Regional Coordinator for several years. John puts an enormous amount of time into ensuring the smooth operation of the competition. The Mock Trial Competition begins at the District Level and then proceeds to the Regional, State and National levels. In each trial, two (2) teams made up of 9th through 12th grade students try the case based upon a set of written materials. Each team is made up of three (3) attorneys and two (2) witnesses. The attorneys who serve as jurors score each student attorney and each student witness for each team. The scores determine which team is the winner of each trial. The North Central Region of Pennsylvania is broken down into two (2) Districts. District 1 covers Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, Centre, Potter and Clinton Counties. District 2 covers, Tioga, Lycoming, Union, Montour, Columbia, Snyder and Northumberland Counties. The schools in each district compete against each other and the team with the overall highest average score is the District Champion. The District Champions compete in a single trial which produces the Regional Champion. The Mock Trial Competition in the North Central Region would not be possible without the attorneys who volunteer their time to be jurors and attorney advisors and the judges and hearing officers who volunteer their time to serve as presiding judges. Read more at the Pennsylvania Bar Association site. |
