This past weekend, the Florida Justice Association (FJA) Research and Education Foundation put on its annual Hon. E. Earle Zehmer Memorial Mock Trial Competition hosted by the FJA Young Lawyers’ Section. Judges from the tri-county area presided over the mock trial competition including the 17th Judicial Circuit’s own Judge Carpenter-Toye, Judge Gamm, Judge Gundersen, Judge Coleman, Judge Lazarus, Judge Usan, and Judge Rothschild. Also serving as presiding judges were Judge Collins, Judge Delgado, Judge Weiss, and General Magistrate Alvan Balent. The Championship Round was presided over by Judge Gordon Murray I of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit.
This year’s competition featured seven law schools and 14 teams and nearly 100 volunteer lawyers including members of the FJA Young Lawyers’ Section Board of Directors. There were five undefeated teams at the end of the preliminary rounds–both teams from FIU Law, both teams from Nova Law, and one of the teams from Barry Law. The final round pitted Nova Law v. Barry Law with Barry Law emerging victorious for its first FJA Mock Trial victory! “We are extremely proud of the student advocates who compete in this competition. Their natural skills at advocacy will ensure that all who have causes to plea will be heard,” said G.C. Murray II, Esq., DPL, FJA’s Deputy General Counsel and Mock Trial Director. “We are grateful for Chief Judge Tuter opening his beautiful courthouse to us and thank all of the judges and lawyers who participated; their feedback to the students was invaluable” said Murray.
To learn more about the Hon. E. Earle Zehmer Memorial Mock Trial competition visit: https://fjaresearchandeducation.org
