An unusually large number of Warren County high school students had court appearances this week.

But they weren’t in any trouble.

The appearances marked the beginning of the Pennsylvania Bar Associations Young Lawyer Division Mock Trials, in which teams of students, assisted by academic and legal advisors, filled the roles of prosecution, defense and witnesses in realistic courtroom settings, complete with real judges and panels of juries.

Warren senior Anthony Citro explained the trial was a civil case about an insurance claim where a man was injured after being thrown from a horse while hunting on a wildlife refuge.

He said the insurance company’s case was that the incident was caused intentionally by an employee of a wildlife refuge who had flown a modified drone near the horse and rider. Because the modifications to the drone were done without FAA approval, and the employee’s actions were intentional, the company claimed their responsibility was negated.

This year, Sheffield Area High School fielded two teams, and Warren Area High School one for two days of litigation in the Erie County Court House.

On Wednesday, Sheffield Team I represented the plaintiff against Meadville as the defendant, while SAHS Team II defended against a Northwestern team. Later in the day SAHS I presented a defense against Collegiate and SAHS II took the plaintiffs case against McDowell.

On Thursday, WAHS defended and Collegiate II prosecuted, then later Northwestern II defended and WAHS prosecuted.

WAHS advisor Ben Lobdell said, “The team itself started to prepare in November of 2015. This is when the case materials were presented to me as the advisor and I was able to start establishing this years guidelines for the team. Many of them are returning participants so they are working on this off and on throughout the year as they are working to get better so they may be able to earn a spot on the team, as it is with many competitive activities within the school.”

Sarah Connolly, advisor for SAHS Team I said, “The teams were a voluntary sign up and students knew the dedication required before we started. Teams were broken up by grade this year – seniors and one junior were on team I and remaining juniors and underclassmen were on team II. Team I’s legal advisor was Caleb Gnage. Team II’s legal advisor was Sarah Anderson.”

Lobdell said, “Myself and Andrea Stapleford, (the WAHS) attorney advisor, ask what roles the students want, give them the case materials and some guidance, then allow them a couple of weeks to prepare,” Lobdell said. “Once they have had an opportunity to prepare they come in and we hole tryouts in front of their peers then Andrea and I decide based on normal mock trial scoring guidelines and student ability if they earn the role. This is the process for both the attorneys and witnesses.”

“Mrs. Stapleford, as the advisor, has a huge responsibility in assisting the kids on courtroom procedure, decorum, and evidentiary rules as established by mock trial and the united states judicial system,” he said.

“The competitions are judged based on student understanding and knowledge of the legal process, content of the case, and knowledge of the overall rules of mock trial to include decorum, professional responsibility, rules of evidence, and overall rules of the mock trial competition.”

“The attorneys must know and understand all aspects of the case and each individual witness form both sides, so they are able to effectively ask questions based on responses given by the witnesses. The witnesses role is no less taxing, the student must become that person and know that statement inside and out without question and be able to respond to questions about their statement without hesitation and with a factual answer based on pages and pages of testimony.”

Citro said he is not planning on a career as a lawyer. “Still, it gives me a great perspective of the legal field, and a good understanding of both civil and criminal trials,” he said.

Mya Grubbs from SAHS said the experience gave her a chance to see what was involved in the trial. She is considering going into legal field and this gave her some insight.

Lobdell added that it teaches the students life skills like public speaking and the ability to think on their feet. “To remain composed under stress so they can respond to situations they didn’t see coming by making their arguments based on fact and knowledge,” he said.

Is it difficult to argue for both the plaintiffs and defense? According to Sheffield student Hayley Corbin, “It didn’t seem to complicated until we actually go there. There was more evidence for the plaintiff.”

According to Issis Pratz, also of SAHS, “It was difficult because as a witness, I tried to plan ahead for what the opposing side might ask. But, unfortunately, I didn’t think of every detail and I had to think quickly and respond with answers that helped my side of the case.” On Friday, Lobdell said, “Yesterday we competed against two teams, Collegiate academy and Northwestern. We won by a cumulative score that was greater than our opponents. We competed as both plaintiff and defense (with) two separate competitions and a total of about four hours in the courtroom.”

“By winning yesterday it advances the team into the playoff round for the district. This will be held next Wednesday in Erie again,”he said. “We will be competing against other teams which have won as well. If we compete and succeed in both plaintiff and defense competitions again next week we will advance into the state round of the competition.”

Connolly said, “Barbara Urban and I were very proud of the work and preparation that our teams put into this competition. They gave up three of their Saturdays to come to the school and work on the case, along with countless hours of their own time. Watching our students stand in front of a courtroom full of strangers and get that public speaking experience is something that we cannot teach in the classroom setting. They had to get out of their comfort zone, work under pressure, and think on their feet. Unfortunately, neither of our teams will be advancing, but we are optimistic about knowing what to work on for next year’s competition.”