Takes Home Coveted Marcus G. Christ Trophy
(Mineola, NY) – For the first time, an all-female team of students from Our Lady of Mercy High School in Syosset out-argued 46 other high schools in the county to win the Nassau County Championship in the 2013 New York State Mock Trial Tournament, announced Marilyn Genoa, co-chair of the Mock Trial Tournament, which is coordinated in the county each year by the Nassau County Bar Association. The team was led by Teacher Coaches Rosefina Cali Di Campo and Meredith Kurz.
The Mock Trial Tournament is the largest competition in the state that pits high school students arguing a real case in a real courtroom of the Supreme Court in Mineola. Nassau boasts the largest single-county tournament in the state. This year, 121 attorneys and judges volunteered and more than 500 students from 47 high schools competed in 79 trials.
The 2013 Mock Trial Tournament Nassau Championship team from Our Lady of Mercy Academy proudly shows off the traditional Marcus G. Christ Trophy presented by the Nassau County Bar Association, with Mock Trial Co-chairs Hon. Marilyn Genoa (standing left) and Hon. John Marks (standing right). Teacher coach Rosefina Cali Di Campo is seated 3rd from right. (Photo by Hector Herrera)
Nassau County Bar Association attorneys and judges volunteer to serve as team attorney-advisors and trial judges to provide students with hands-on opportunities to further their understanding of the law, court procedures and the legal system while honing their speaking, listening, reading and reasoning skills. They advise and counsel student teams in trial techniques and court procedures as they prepare to prosecute, defend, and act as witnesses in a fictional case provided by the state bar.
Each team has a turn at representing both the plaintiff and the defendant side of the criminal case on two consecutive weeks against different opponents and before different judges. Sitting judges, attorneys and other NCBA members who volunteer to preside over the trials evaluate the students’ performance, and the winning teams advance up the Tournament ladder until a single winning team emerges. In the Long Island Regional competition in April, the Nassau Champion team from Our Lady of Mercy lost to Suffolk Champion William Floyd High School, which will now go on to compete in the state finals in Albany.
The Nassau County High School Mock Trial Tournament is jointly sponsored by the Nassau County Bar Association and the Nassau County Court System. Hon. John G. Marks, Hon. Jeffrey Goodstein and Hon. Marilyn Genoa co-chair the program, which is coordinated by NCBA’s Caryle Katz.
NASSAU COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION
Founded in 1899, the Nassau County Bar Association, with a membership of nearly 6,000 private and public attorneys, judges, legal educators and law students, is the largest suburban bar association in the country. The Bar demonstrates its commitment to the community by offering a variety of services for the public, including lawyer referral services, mortgage foreclosure, Superstorm Sandy recovery and senior citizen clinics, student mentoring, judicial screening, public education programs and support for the Volunteer Lawyers Project, which provides much-needed free legal services for the indigent of Nassau County. The WE CARE Fund, the NCBA’s charitable arm, assists children, the elderly and others in need, through countless projects and donations.
For more information call 516-747-4070, email info@nassaubar.org, or visit www.nassaubar.org.
