February 28, 2011
On February 12, Savannah Country Day School’s Mock Trial Team won the regional mock trial competition, held at the Chatham County Courthouse. Savannah Country Day students earned top honors at the regional mock trial title for the fifth consecutive year.
The fictional case that served as the backdrop for this year’s competition involved a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by a detective who was fired from the police department after posting critical comments directly addressing the department on a mythical social networking site called “MiltFace.”
The students prepared opening statements, witness testimony and closing arguments from a set of case materials provided by the High School Mock Trial division of the State Bar of Georgia. Participants presented their cases at the Chatham County Courthouse to evaluation panels, or “juries,” consisting of real judges and lawyers from the local bar.
The 2011 SCDS Mock Trial Team will head to the state championship tournament in Lawrenceville, Ga. on March 19 and 20. The state mock trial tournament is sponsored by the Georgia State Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.
Savannah Country Day’s mock trial students work closely with teacher coaches Peter Foley and Ken Hincker and attorney coaches Dennis Keene, Colin McRae and Rachel Young of HunterMaclean to prepare for mock trial competitions. Savannah attorney Trish Murphy also assisted the team.
Colin McRae, a partner at HunterMaclean in Savannah and Class of 1991 alumnus of SCDS, believes that as with any competition, whether athletic or academic, there are countless hours of sacrifice and preparation involved.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this year’s mock trial team,” said McRae. “Our teacher coaches, Peter Foley and Ken Hincker, are outstanding and we wouldn’t be here without them. We’re all excited to try and bring home the state title for Southeast Georgia.”
Dennis Keene began volunteering in the mock trial program in 1991 while in law school. He continued his efforts in Savannah in 2000 and began helping with SCDS in 2001. Colin McRae has been working with the mock trial students at SCDS since 2000 and Rachel Young has been involved since 2007. This is the first year Savannah attorney Trish Murphy, whose son attends SCDS, has assisted as attorney coach for the “Law Hornets.”
“I’m confident that the Country Day mock trial team has a great shot at producing the same successful results at the state level,” added attorney Rachel Young, an associate at HunterMaclean. “The dedication these students demonstrate is extremely admirable. By any measure, they are a talented and hard-working group.”
ABOUT HUNTERMACLEAN
With offices in Savannah and Brunswick, HunterMaclean has extensive experience representing businesses and individuals in all areas of litigation as well as in corporate, tax, real estate, information technology, business, transportation and maritime law. The firm’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, banks, hospitals, maritime companies, professional service organizations, industrial development authorities and nonprofit corporations. For more information about HunterMaclean, please call 912.236.0261 or visit www.huntermaclean.com.
