Bella Vista Earns Top Honors in County Moot Court Competition

Bella Vista High School's moot court team can start preparing for a trip to compete in a statewide competition in Washington, D.C. in the wake of winning a Sacramento County Moot Court competition Tuesday.

After several days of fierce courtroom competition, and thoughtful deliberations by esteemed judges, the verdicts are in for the 2012 Gordon D. Schaber Mock Trial and Moot Court Program competition. In Sacramento County, Rio Americano High School (Team 1) is the winner of the Mock Trial competition and Bella Vista High School (Team 2) earned top honors in the Moot Court competition.

"This is an amazing law-related academic tournament that gives high school students a deeper understanding of the legal system and how our society chooses to resolve many of its disputes," said David W. Gordon, Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools, as he addressed students at the awards ceremony. "Most important, this program provides students with the opportunity to sharpen invaluable life skills, such as critical thinking and effective communication."

This year's competition dealt with the issue of bullying at school and whether or not the bully's First Amendment rights were protected when he posted offensive things off campus, said Bella Vista's moot court coach, Jena McDonald. Due to the pervasiveness of the bullying, Bella Vista's team determined the bully should not be protected under the First Amendment.

McDonald explained up until about two minutes before the competition the students don't know which side of the argument they will be defending.

"They don't know if they want the Supreme Court to uphold the court's decision or if they are going to asking the Supreme Court to strike down the local court's decision," McDonald said. "It's a pretty cerebral activity for the students, but they learn a lot and enjoy it immensely."

The Sacramento County Office of Education (SCOE), which coordinates the event, announced the winners at the GDS Awards Ceremony on March 5.

Teams from 18 Sacramento County high schools, as well as four teams from El Dorado, Placer and Yolo counties, competed in the 33rd annual event. Volunteers from more than 54 local law firms and other legal organizations served as scoring and presiding judges for the five-day event.

The Mock Trial competition simulates a trial-level proceeding in which students portray the roles of pre-trial counsel, prosecuting and defense attorneys, witnesses, court clerks, bailiffs, and jurors before a single presiding judge and two scoring judges. It includes courtroom art and courtroom journalism competitions. The county Mock Trial winner advances to a statewide competition. The Moot Court competition is an appellate-level proceeding in which students prepare and argue a case before a panel of three judges that evaluates participants on the quality and persuasiveness of their legal reasoning and presentation, as well as their unscripted responses to spontaneous questions from the bench.

The California Mock Trial Competition is sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF), a non-profit, non-partisan, community-based organization dedicated to educating America's young people about the importance of civic participation in a democratic society.

McDonald said her team, now with the win, can start preparing for the statewide competition on March 24 in D.C.

"The students have had the case for about a month, they have the basics of it down," McDonald said. "They'll be practicing on Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays, until it's time to go. They'll probably be practicing on the plan too!"