Midlands students to compete in regional mock trial competitions
February 22, 2016
Thirteen schools in the Midlands will compete in the annual SC Bar Regional High School Mock Trial Competitions on Saturday, Feb. 27 in Lexington and Sumter.
Students will present the prosecution and defense sides of a fictitious criminal case before a panel of local volunteer lawyers and judges. This year’s case focuses on arson, robbery and the murder of a well-known woman in a small, fictitious South Carolina town. Students will fill the roles of attorneys, witnesses, bailiffs and timekeepers, and each team will be judged on its presentation skills, rather than the legal merits of the case.
The following schools will participate in the Lexington Regional High School Mock Trial Competition at the Marc H. Westbrook Lexington County Judicial Center (205 E. Main St., Lexington 29072) along with three other schools in the Aiken area:
• Brookland-Cayce High School
• Chapin High School
• Eau Claire High School
• Irmo High School
• Lexington High School
• Spring Hill High School
• Spring Valley High School
• Westwood High School
The following schools will participate in the Sumter Regional Competition at the Sumter City/Municipal Courthouse (215 N. Harvin St., Sumter 29150) along with five other teams in the Florence and Sumter areas:
• A.C. Flora High School
• Dreher High School
• Heathwood Hall Episcopal School
• Lower Richland High School
• Richland Northeast High School
A total of 12 teams from five regional competitions will advance to the state competition March 11—12 in Columbia at the Matthew J. Perry Federal Courthouse. The 2016 state champion will advance to the national competition held in Boise, Idaho in May. For more information about the Mock Trial case or program, visit www.scbar.org/lre.
The Mock Trial Program is sponsored by the SC Bar’s Law Related Education (LRE) Division, which was developed in 1976 to improve the ability of teachers to instruct law related education. The Mock Trial Program is supported by the Bar’s LRE Committee and made possible through a SC Bar Foundation IOLTA grant and the SC Bar.
About the South Carolina Bar:
The SC Bar, which has a membership of more than 15,000 lawyers, is dedicated to advancing justice, professionalism and understanding of the law.
