Merion Mercy Academy advances to Pa. semi-finals in mock trial competition

MEDIA » The PBA announces the Regional 7 Mock Trial Winners advancing to the State Semi-finals are Henderson High School from Chester County and Merion Mercy Academy from Delaware county. These schools are among the nearly 250 high school teams from across Pennsylvania that participated in this year’s competition and are the best in the Region of the 48 High Schools that competed in the Bucks, Chester and Delaware Counties. Pennsylvania’s mock trial program is one of the largest in the nation.

Sponsored statewide by the Pennsylvania Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, the mock trial competition gives eight-member student teams the opportunity to argue both sides of a case in an actual courtroom before a judge. The students, who play the roles of lawyers, witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants, are assisted by teacher coaches and lawyer advisors in preparing for competition. Volunteer lawyers and community leaders serve as jurors in the trials. The juries determine the winners in each trial based on the teams’ abilities to prepare their cases, present arguments and follow court rules.

This year’s hypothetical case is a civil trial to determine whether the plaintiff, who exposed a fellow colleague’s alleged bribery, was withdrawn an offer to her employer’s Leadership Development Program in retaliation against her whistleblowing to cover up the bribe or a business decision to cut ties with an unreliable employee.

Out of the the nearly 250 high school teams that started in the competition, only 14 teams advance to the PBA Statewide Mock Trial Championships, March 23 and 24 in Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, the charitable affiliate of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, is providing funding support for the broadcast.

The winner of the state championship will represent Pennsylvania at the national mock trial finals to be held May 10–12 in Reno, Nev.

For information on the 2018 PBA Statewide Mock Trial Championships and to read this year’s case, visit the Young Lawyers Division pages on the PBA website at www.pabar.org