High School Teams Advance to State Mock Trial Competition

(March 7, 2006) Topeka, KS—The Kansas Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section sponsored the 2006 High School Mock Trial Regional Competition on March 4 at the Johnson and Sedgwick County courthouses. The following six schools qualified for the state competition, which will take place April 1, in Kansas City, Kan.: Blue Valley North High School, Overland Park; The Independent School, Wichita; Northeast Magnet High School, Wichita; Shawnee Mission East High School, Prairie Village; Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Shawnee; and Sunrise Christian Academy, Bel Aire.

The teams will compete for a chance to participate in the national tournament in Oklahoma City on May 13. The winner of the state tournament will receive a scholarship to compete at the national competition.

Mock trials have proven to be an effective and popular part of the comprehensive, law-focused program designed to provide young people with an operational understanding of the law, legal issues, and the judicial process. Participation in, and analysis of, mock trials provides young people with an insider's perspective from which to learn about courtroom procedures.

The mock trial program improves proficiency in basic skills, including listening, reading, and reasoning; promotes better communication and cooperation between the educational and legal communities; provides a competitive event in an academic atmosphere; and promotes cooperation among young people of various abilities and interests.

“Mock trials help students gain a basic understanding of the legal mechanism through which society chooses to resolve many of its disputes,” said KBA Mock Trial Coordinator Amy Fellows-Cline, Triplett Woolf & Garretson LLC, Wichita.

The Independent School, Wichita, represented Kansas at the 2005 National High School Mock Trial Championship in Charlotte, N.C.

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