Superior Court Judges Philip Holman (ret.), and Gary Hicks congratulate Great Brook School’s Mock Trial team for being winners of the middle school division.

MILFORD HIGH SCHOOL and Great Brook Middle School, of Antrim, won their respective divisions and are state champions of the 2004 NHBA Mock Trial Competition, held April 3 at the Hillsborough County-North Superior Court in Manchester.

Kingswood Regional High School, of Wolfeboro, and St. Patrick School were the runners up in their divisions. Also in the finals were middle schools Hudson Memorial and Alton Central and high schools Souhegan, of Amherst, and Pinkerton Academy, of Derry. The winner of the high school division now goes to the Mock Trial National Tournament in Orlando in May 6-8. The NH Bar Foundation presented the winning high school with a $1,000 check to help with travel expenses.

The Hon. Ed Tenney of the Newport District Court, who presided over some of the competing teams during the finals, said that he was pleasantly surprised at how mature the participating students were and how well they prepared their presentations. "I thought this would be something cute and was shocked at how professional they were. It certainly was not just play-acting what court is like." He said he enjoyed the experience enough to participated again next year.

Thirty-one schools statewide, composed of about 10 students each, competed this year, culminating in eight finalists, four teams each in the middle and high school categories, which competed in three trials—based on a DWI-related search and seizure case based on New Hampshire case law—to decide the winner of the state championship.

Both middle and high school students spend months researching the law and developing evidence to, ultimately, present testimony and arguments on both sides of the same case to real judges in real courtrooms.

Bar members involved in coaching the finalists were: Stephen Sacks for Alton; Tom Mullins, Great Brook; Doug Dubuque (police officer), Hudson; Ken Murphy, St. Patrick’s School; Diana Bolander, Kingswood; Richard Fabian, Milford; Jeremy Walker, Pinkerton; and James B. Hobbs, Souhegan. Judges were: the Hon. Philip Holman, the Hon. Gary Hicks, the Hon. Ed Tenney; and Marty Van Oot. Scoring judges were: Chris Boldt, Lisa Wellman-Ally, H. Nina Bernard, Laurel O’Connor, Joseph Levasseur, Lawrence Vogelman, Annette Kwok (law student), Bruce Jasper,Stephen Woods, Tracy McGraw, and Jaye Rancourt. Valenda Morrissette, LRE coordinator, organized the competition.

For more information on how to get involved with next year’s competition, or other educational programs, contact Morrissette at (603) 224-6942, or vmorrissette@nhbar.org.

The students at Milford High School celebrate their victory and advancement to the national level with Superior Court Judges Philip Holman (ret.), and Gary Hicks.

May 7 is A Lawyer and Judge in Every School Day around the state, and local schools need Bar members like you to educate them on the legal system…page 11

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