Twelve high schools vie for state mock trial
Contributed by Elizabeth Martin

Twelve South Carolina high schools who competed in the regional mock trial competitions on Saturday will advance to the state mock trial competition on March 7 and 8 at the Matthew J. Perry Jr. Federal Courthouse in Columbia.

Thirty-nine teams from the Midlands, Piedmont, Coastal and Low Country competed in the regional competitions. Teams advancing to the state competition include Berkeley High School, Bob Jones Academy-Team A, Carolina Forest High School, Daniel High School, Christ Church Episcopal School- Team 1, Dutch Fork High School, Fort Dorchester High School, Fort Mill High School, Johnsonville High School, Lexington High School, Spring Valley High School and Strom Thurmond High School.

The competition will begin at 1:15 pm on Friday, March 7 and will conclude with the championship round at 4 pm on Saturday, March 8. The state championship trophy will be presented at the closing ceremony at 6:30 pm on Saturday.

Students will present the plaintiff and defense sides of a fictitious case before a panel of local volunteer lawyers. Additionally, students will fill the roles of defendant, witnesses and bailiff. Each team will be judged on its presentation skills, rather than the legal merits of the case.

This year's case was inspired by the events related to Liebeck vs. McDonald's, a case involving Stella Liebeck, a 79- year- old grandmother from Albuquerque, New Mexico who was burned by a 49 cent cup of coffee at the drive-thru window of her local McDonalds. The plaintiff in this case, Lee Cavanaugh, purchased a cup of coffee from a Winkies drive- thru window. While holding the cup of coffee, the lid, which had not been properly secured by the Winkies employee, suddenly and unexpectedly came off of the cup, causing the coffee, which was served at an extremely hot temperature, to spill onto the plaintiff resulting in severe bodily injuries. For more information on the mock trial case or program, visit www.scbar.org/member/lre/ highschoolmocktrial.asp.

The mock trial program is sponsored by the South Carolina 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 made possible through an IOLTA grant from the South Carolina Bar Foundation.

The South Carolina Bar, which has a membership of more than 12,000 lawyers, is dedicated to advancing justice, professionalism and understanding of the law.