Statewide High School Mock Competition

The 2011 Pennsylvania Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition is scheduled to begin soon. The competition has been sponsored by the Young Lawyers Division of the Pennsylvania Bar Association for the 27th year. The Mock Trial Competition is one of the largest in the nation which gives over 290 high school student teams from across the state the opportunity to act as lawyers and witnesses in simulated civil trials before actual judges and panels of juries. The competition provides students with firsthand experience in learning about the American judicial system. Lawyers volunteer as advisors, scorekeepers and regional coordinators to assist student teams. Every year the winning team goes on to represent Pennsylvania in the national competition. This year’s case, The Estate of Simone Langston v Lefu Harrison written by Jonathan Grode and Paul Kaufman of Temple University Law School, is a civil action suit involving a pathologist who claimed to have entered a contract with a dying woman to obtain her mutated cancer cells. These cancer cells offered a promise to cure cancer and to make the doctor rich. The case is centered on whether Ms. Langston had the capacity to sell her cancer cells to Dr. Harrison.

Schools had to register before November 12, 2010. District competitions begin January 24 to February 19, 2011. District and Regional Play-offs are March 1-19, 2011. State Rounds 1 and 2, in Harrisburg, are held on March 25, 2011. Semi-finals and final, in Harrisburg, are held on March 26, 2011. The National Competition will be held in Phoenix, AZ during May 5-8, 2011.

Chester High School, a Delaware County District 2 school, will be competing with high schools like Academy of Notre Dame, Archbishop John Carroll, Cardinal O’Hara, Delaware County Christian, Monsignor Bonner Catholic, Penn Wood, Ridley, and Strath Haven. Starting next week Chester will be competing in the district competition. John Simmons, Social Studies Teacher at Chester High who teaches the course Street Law, will be participating in the competition with his students. This is the second year Chester is participating in the competition at the Courthouse in Media, PA. They must be prepared to take on either the Plaintiff or the Defendant side of the case. Students will be participating as lawyers and witnesses. Congratulations Mr. Simmons and your students! Good Luck with the competition!