COURT HOUSE – Courthouse to schoolhouse and vice versa is part of an outreach program that judicial officials hope to expand in the Atlantic-Cape May Vicinage 1 this year.
Known as “One Judge-One School,” Assignment Judge Julio Mendez has announced renewal of the program that will have Superior Court judges and a county Bar Association representative linked to each high school in the two counties.
Now through June, the judge and attorney will work closely with those schools to provide programs that will aid curriculum. That will include class visits by judges, assemblies and mentoring. In turn, pupils till be invited to visit their local courthouse to tour its facilities, meet court personnel and observe court proceedings.
Judges are partnered with schools in counties where they preside, stated Kathleen Obringer, ombudsman-community liaison for the courts. In 2013, Cape May County judges visited, and students toured the courts, from Middle Township, Wildwood Catholic and Wildwood high schools.
Obringer noted officials anticipate schools that did not participate last year will be able to work the program into their curriculum this year. Those schools include the county Technical School, Ocean City and Lower Cape May Regional.
Focus of many of the school-courts activity will be on the year’s Law Day (May 1) theme, “American Democracy and the Rule of Law: Why Every Vote Matters.”
“This year’s Law Day theme is more than an abstract. It is a living, breathing, often dramatic reality taking place in our courthouses every day,” stated Mendez in a release.
“It is our belief that if we explain the court system and more importantly give our students the opportunity to experience our court system we will, through this familiarity, give our students an appreciation of the daily significance of the Law Day there,” stated Superior Court Judge Mark Sandson, a trial judge in the Criminal Division in Atlantic County in Mays Landing.
Mendez stated that Sandson will lead the project again this year. He also lauded the Bar Associations that make possible the participation of their members.
“The first year of this program was an overwhelming success,” stated Trial Court Administrator Howard H. Berchtold Jr. “We are so excited to continue the program and include the Bar Associations this year. We want the students to learn about the judiciary and the legal profession.”
Although not a part of the above program, four high school legal teams are spending their Tuesday and Thursday evenings through Jan. 23 in Superior Court participating in the annual Mock Trial Competitions, sponsored by Cape May County Bar Association. Those competitions begin at 6:30 p.m. and are open to the public. Entry is by the rear entrance to the Superior Court building, North Main Street.
Participating schools include Cape May County Technical High School (Teacher Coach – Matthew Pleasants; Attorney Coach – Brian McEwing, Esq.), Lower Cape May Regional High School (Teacher Coaches – Thomas R. Higgins and Alice Barnes-Vasser; Attorney Coach – Barbara Bakely-Marino, Esq.), Middle Township High School (Teacher Coach – Martina Trapani; Attorney Coach –Daniel Kurkowski, Esq.) and Wildwood Catholic High School (Teacher Coach-Craig Gras and Attorney C.Coach – Chris Gillin Schwartz, Esq.).
The Cape May County Mock Trial Program is sponsored by the New Jersey State Bar Foundation in cooperation with the Cape May County Bar Association and the Cape May County Superior Court. For more information on the competition, please contact Michele Devine-Hartnett, Executive Director of the Cape May County Bar Association (609) 463-0313.
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