Cumming Students Prepare To Battle It Out In Court

For the first time in the 23-year history of the Georgia High School Mock Trial Program, there will now be a regional Mock Trial Competition in Forsyth County.

“In the past Cumming or Forsyth County didn’t have its own region,” said Clay White, regional co-coordinator and Staff Attorney to Forsyth County Judge David L. Dickinson. “Our schools would have to go be involved in someone else’s region and most recently they’ve been going over to Athens for the competition.”

Saturday more than 90 students from all five Forsyth County high schools and Pinecrest Academy will compete in the regional mock trial in downtown Cumming.

The competition is part of a statewide competition project of the Young Lawyers Division, State Bar of Georgia.

The Georgia High School Mock Trial Program teaches young people about how the legal system works.

“They have to learn the facts of the case and learn rules of evidence so that they can conduct this trial,” said White.

Additionally, the program helps these students develop a number of skills, like public speaking, reasoning, critical thinking and listening.

Teams of 14 students will work together to prepare their presentations from case materials provided by the High School Mock Trial Committee. The students assume the roles of attorneys and witnesses based on the evidence and witness statements, according to the State Bar of Georgia Web site.

Local attorneys coach the teams, including help from teachers.

“The teacher’s are very involved,” said White. “We’ve gotten a great response from our local attorney’s, judges, as well as, judges and attorneys from other counties who have agreed to come tomorrow to help with judging and evaluating of the tournament.”

There will be 12 judges and prosecutors volunteering to sit as judges, and 42 attorneys are volunteering as evaluators.

County civic organizations, like the rotary club, are helping out. and have donated either money or food.

“It’s exciting to see the kind of cooperation and the efforts being made by lot’s of people,” adds White. “Both the county and the city are providing the use of their buildings and helping us with personnel.”

The events will take place in the County Administration Building, Courthouse and City Hall.

Team registration begins at 8 a.m. at the County Administration Building. The competition will go throughout the day with the last event of the day, the Championship Round, scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. The public is welcome to attend.

The winner of each of the 17 regions across Georgia will head to Lawrenceville to compete for the state finals next month. The winner of the state competition will go compete in the national tournament in Phoenix, Arizona in May.