Parent Information Sheet
About the Program. ..
For many years, social studies instructors have successfully incorporated into their law and government classes various role-playing activities, including mock trials. As the law-related education movement has grown, mock trial competitions have evolved from school district competitions to statewide and national competitions. Georgia's first regional competition was held in Clayton County in 1983. The statewide program was founded in 1987 through the efforts of the Young Lawyers Division and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, and it received its early funding from the Georgia Bar Foundation and the U.S. Department of Education. Currently, over 45 states and territories run mock trial competitions for young people of high school age. A mock trial is much like a real court trial. Team members take on the parts of attorneys and witnesses and then prepare a case for trial before a judge. All competing teams prepare the same case. Local teams in a region compete, the regional winners then vie for the state championship, and the state champion has the option of competing nationally.
What Does a Team Do?
With the help of attorney and teacher coaches, teams prepare for competition according to established rules governing trial procedures, which are modified from those of formal trials. Team members learn the trial rules, rehearse their own roles in a trial, prepare strategy, and must be able to think quickly during competition. Teams are judged on their ability to follow procedures and present a plausible case.
Who is Eligible to Compete?
Georgia young people, ages 14-19. Each team must be sponsored by an attorney coach and managed by a teacher coach.
How Many Members Can Participate on a Team?
Young people participate as members of either a plaintiff/prosecution team or a defense team; each team consists of three lawyers and three witnesses. With a minimum of nine students, a team can represent both sides of a case. However, a team ideally would have at least 14 or more members, in order to spread out role assignments and to provide understudies for roles.
Benefits to Young People...
Young people can:
Learn through experience how the legal system actually works and how they fit into the system. Law becomes real; the legal system is demystified.
Exercise their leadership skills; learn to think on their feet and to think analytically.
Enjoy academic competition --Young people who may not compete in sports welcome the chance to use their academic knowledge and skills in competition.
The Newnan High School Team
Newnan High School formed a Mock Trial team for the first time in 2000, and your son/daughter has expressed an interest in participating for this season's competition.. We will compete in the Douglas County district with ten other schools in February. If we win this competition, we would go to state competition in Atlanta in May. The case that we will try this year is a Civil Case. We have attached a list of rules that your student will need to follow to compete.
We would also like you to give your permission for your student to practice for the mock trial at a local attorney's office, which we may do from time to time. We also hope to attend a court session sometime in the next few months, which we will treat as a field trip. A separate permission form will be sent home for that when the time comes.
Please sign and detach the bottom of this page and send back to us via your student so that we know that you have reviewed this information. If you have any questions or concerns, please call us at 770-254-2880 or email us at sherry.cornay@cowetaschools.net or leah.cleary@cowetaschools.net
Name of Student_______________________________________________________________________
I have reviewed the material above as well as the rules for my student, and give my permission for my student to attend practice at a local attorney's office if necessary.
Parent Signature_________________________________________________________________________