Local students to compete in Sumter mock trial competition
COLUMBIA – Eight schools will compete in the SC Bar’s Sumter Regional High School Mock Trial Competition on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the Sumter City/Municipal Courthouse (215 N. Harvin St., Sumter 29150).
Participating schools include A.C. Flora High School, Dreher High School, Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics, Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Manning High School, Richland Northeast High School, Spring Valley High School and Wilson High School.
Students will present the plaintiff and defense sides of a fictitious civil case before a panel of local volunteer lawyers and judges. This year’s case is a wrongful termination suit filed by Jamie Crown, a hospital employee who refused to receive the flu shot after his/her child had passed away as a result of flu shot complications. 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.
A total of 12 teams from five regional competitions will advance to the state competition March 10-11 in Columbia. The 2017 state champion will advance to the national competition in Hartford, Connecticut 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.