Students vie for mock trial title

Two teams of Chattanooga-area homeschoolers will compete this weekend in the 28th annual Tennessee Bar Association High School Mock Trial Competition in Nashville.

“The young people that played the attorneys, witnesses, plaintiffs and defendants were the absolute very best that I’ve ever seen — they were outstanding,” Hamilton County Sessions Court Judge Bob Moon said. “Attorneys don’t want to hear this, but it was like hearing a real case. There was not that much difference between the mock trialers and real attorneys.”

Judge Moon, who for four years has presided over the district championships held in Chattanooga, said members of the 18 teams in this year’s competition are unlike the teenagers who most often are in the news.

“It recharges my confidence in young people,” the judge said.

Students prepare to present both plaintiff and defendant sides of a fictitious case before a judge in a real courtroom with sides assigned before the mock trail. Each team gets scored on the effectiveness of opening statements, direct- and cross-examination, the presentation by witnesses and closing arguments. A team can win the trial on points even if it loses the case.

Attorney Jeff Atherton has coached the homeschoolers’ mock trial teams in Chattanooga for 17 years, and this is the third time he has taken two teams to the state competition.

Mr. Atherton’s coached the first homeschool team to win a state title (2002), the first Tennessee mock trial team to become national champions (2002) and the only team to win back-to-back national championships (2002, 2003). He added a third national championship in 2007.

“It is never old hat, and we have a high-quality group this year,” Mr. Atherton said. “Our (mock trial participation) numbers are holding steady, but it is getting to a point where homeschoolers have to pick and choose.”

He said rule changes over the past two years by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association have allowed homeschoolers to compete in soccer, baseball and basketball.

Mr. Atherton said mock trial competition has been a family activity for him — a college-age son was on FCA teams and a 14-year-old daughter began participating in mock trial last fall — and is one that will continue.

“I have a 5-year-old child that is being homeschooled, so I think I’m good for another 13 years,” he said.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

The 28th annual Tennessee Bar Association High School Mock Trial Competition concerns a fictional civil case involving a car accident after which an injured passenger sues the car's driver for medical expenses and other damages. The case centers on whether the driver was telephone “texting” while driving and may have caused the accident.