More than 1,000 students across the state are turning their
classrooms into courtrooms to assume the roles of both lawyers and
witnesses during this year's 26th annual Mock Trial Program
presented by the Massachusetts Bar Association, which is
celebrating its 100th anniversary.
First organized in 1985, the Mock Trial Program started Jan. 31
with preliminary trials and runs through April 1. The program
places high school teams from 16 regions across the state in a
simulated courtroom.
Students at more than 120 schools across the commonwealth are
expected to participate in the 2011 Mock Trial Program. More than
100 lawyers across the state are volunteering as coaches and
judges.
In this year's criminal case, a teenager is charged with
involuntary manslaughter for the death of two people in a car
accident. The defendant is accused of removing a stop sign as part
of a high school scavenger hunt.
Out of the more than 100 teams of students, four will advance to
the semifinal elimination round and face off during trials held
simultaneously on March 28 in Boston and Worcester.
The two winning teams will advance to the finals, where they will
compete for the state championship, slated for April 1 in the Great
Hall of Faneuil Hall in Boston. In 2010, The Winsor School of
Boston won the state championship and placed 11th in the national
tournament.
The Mock Trial Program is administered by the MBA, and made
possible by the international law firm of Brown Rudnick LLP through
its Center for the Public Interest in Boston, which has contributed
$25,000 per year to the program since 1998.