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The Washington County Bar Association announces the start of district competitions for the Statewide High School Mock Trial Championships.

Eleven School districts from Washington, Fayette and Greene counties will be fielding teams in the tri-county district competition. Participating school districts are Bentworth, Canon-MacMillan, Charleroi, Connellsville, Fort Cherry and Burgettstown (combined team), Frazier, Laurel Highlands, Peters Township, Ringgold, and Trinity.

These schools are among more than 300 high school teams from across Pennsylvania that are participating in this year’s competition. 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 centers on a civil action to determine whether an insurance company will be forced to cover the costs of a heinous injury to an individual that occurred on a nature preserve.

The District level competitions will be held on February 16 and 18 at the Washington County Courthouse, with playoffs to be held February 22 and the final district championship February 23. The district winner will advance to the regional competition to be held in mid-March in Westmoreland County. Fourteen regional winners from around the state will advance to the PBA Statewide Mock Trial Championships, April 1 and 2, in Harrisburg. The winner of the state championship will represent Pennsylvania at the national mock trial finals in late spring in Boise, Idaho.

For more information on the 2016 PBA Statewide Mock Trial Championships and to read this year’s case, visit the Young Lawyers Division pages on the PBA website at http://www.pabar.org.

Founded in 1892, the Washington County Bar Association strives to promote justice, professional excellence and respect for the law; improve public understanding of the legal system; facilitate access to legal services; and serve the 480 lawyers who are members of the associatio

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