NORWICH – The Norwich High School Mock Trial Team squared off against veteran squad Gilbertsville-Mount Upton during the sectional finals, held Wednesday at the Chenango County Courthouse. G-MU won the final round of sectionals and will now move on to the regionals in Syracuse.
“My team worked incredibly hard and we made enormous progress from our first to last trial, as shown by the fact that we got into finals as a first year team,” said Norwich mock trail coach and DCMO BOCES English teacher Maureen Bartlett. “G-MU are extraordinary competitors and they brought out the very best in us. Presiding Judge Garry said it was close and that they only won by a slim margin.”
This was the Norwich team’s first time back in the ring after a 10-year hiatus following the previous mock trial advisor’s retirement. Going into the semifinals, the Norwich team was ranked third out of five other teams in the area including G-MU, Sherburne-Earlville, Afton and Unadilla Valley.
The New York Bar Foundation and the New York State Bar Association sponsor the mock trials in an effort to perk high school students’ interest in the law. Each competing team also benefits from the advise of a practicing lawyer, such as Assistant District Attorney Stephen M. Dunshee’s long time advisement of the S-E team and attorney James Fertig’s recent consultation with the Norwich team.
“It requires a lot of dedication from the students,” said Chenango County Assistant District Attorney and mock trial organizer Michael J. Genute. “It is a pretty unique thing, which attracts a wide variety of students who do it because it is a good experience.”
The Chenango County mock trial institute benefits from an outpouring of support from the legal community.
“Pretty much anyone in the law community is very supportive and will step in to help,” said Genute, who went on to list the involvement of just about anyone who has ever practiced law in the county. Before retiring, Judge W. Howard Sullivan had been a long time proponent of the program and had presided over a number of competitions.
Last Wednesday’s finals featured a case called Morgan Martin v. Cattaraugus Programming University. In the scenario, the plaintiff sued the Cattaraugus Programming University, claiming the university had deceived her during her tour of the school, promising she would have no trouble finding a job with a degree from the institution. Upon graduating, however, she discovered her degree from the university is worthless in the eyes of prospective employers and was unable to find a job in her chosen field.
During the course of the mock trial tournament, the schools switched back and forth, sometimes competing as the plaintiff and other times as the defendant. Therefore, all of the schools prepared both sides of the argument.
“From a teacher’s perspective, what the kids have to do for this takes an enormous amount of critical thinking, understanding of the law, careful reading, devising of arguments, as well as careful writing and use of rhetoric,” said Bartlett.
As none of the Norwich team members are graduating this year, the returning team promises to be a strong one, said Bartlett.