Local High Schools Practice “Law and Order” at Superior Court

Dozens of students from Ocean City and Middle Township High Schools filed into County Court on Jan. 20 to see if defendant, Dillan Matthews, would be found guilty of illegally downloading music.
It was 6:30 p.m., long after Superior Court typically holds trial, but the Court has been a buzz with activity after dark lately, ever since Jan. 13 when the Cape May County High School Mock Trial Competition began.
For those who are growing bored with “Law and Order” reruns, the trials are open to the public and offer some first hand insight to the legal process. Students study cases, prepared by the Cape May County Bar Association, and with the help of local attorneys, they argue their cases in front of real judges and juries of their peers.
It takes a lot of preparation.
“We practice three or four days a week,” said Middle Township Junior, Tiffany Marriner, who played the junior defense attorney for Middle Township’s legal team.
Like most mock trial participants, Marriner has worked her way up to being an attorney. Students in the lower grades play roles as witnesses and jury members, and as they gain experience with the legal system, they play more challenging roles.
“I just grew up with it,” Marriner said. “ “I like how it offers two sides to look at differently.” But she doesn’t see a career in law in her future.
“I want to study zoology,” she said. And Middle Townships Senior Attorney, Noelle Natale hopes to study Psychology, but both believe the competition offers valuable experience, nonetheless.
“It gives you a lot of public speaking skills,” Marriner said, and she believes the confi-dence she gains in county court will help her to address the public in any professional situation.
“If I am a zookeeper, it can give me the confidence to talk to groups of people,” she said.
Other students, like Ocean City Junior, Maggi Kernan and Senior. John McCrossen, do have their eyes on law school. Both have parents in the legal profession. Kernan’s mother is an Atlantic County judge, and McCrossen’s father is an attorney. Together, they played presented the case for the plaintiff on Jan. 20.
Trials are nerve-wracking, the two admitted, but “we’ve been preparing for months,” McCrossen said.
The mock trial program is sponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in cooperation with the Cape May County Bar Association and the County Superior Court. Student teams prepare for trial with the help of local attorney coaches and teachers. Middle Town-ship High School’s team is coached by teacher, Martina Trapani and Suzanne Pasley, Esq. Ocean City High School’s team is coached by teachers, Chris Jankowski and Lorraine Baldwin, and Frank Shoemaker, Esq. Lower Cape May Regional High School’s team is coached by teacher, Thomas R. Higgins and Barbara Bakely-Marino, Esq. Wildwood Catholic High School’s team is coached by teacher, Denise Lamanna and J. Christopher Gibson, Esq.
Trials are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings through Feb. 3, promptly at 6:30 p.m. Entrance is at the rear of the building. For more information on the competition, contact Susan Fuller, Executive Director of the Cape May County Bar Association 609- 463-0313.