(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Case Western Reserve School of Law earned top honors Sunday in Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s 2013 Public Service Mock Trial Competition.
The competition, which took place at the Franklin County Courthouse this weekend, was designed to provide a valuable learning opportunity for Ohio law school students and offer insight into public service legal careers.
“This competition was founded to help law students learn about public service legal careers. From prosecutors to representing state agencies to being taxpayer watchdogs, there are many ways public service lawyers help protect Ohio families,” said Attorney General DeWine. “I applaud Case Western and all the teams that participated in our mock trial competition.”
Teams from the various Ohio law schools, made up of second and third-year students, participated in the competition.
The competition simulated litigation regarding a telemarketing fraud case where each law school team presented both the state’s case as well as the defense’s case. Teams participated in two trial rounds on Saturday with the top two teams advancing to a final round Sunday.
Each team was coached by litigators from The Ohio Attorney General’s Office and other public service offices from around the state.
Members of Case Western’s winning team included Dylan Klossner, Rachel Berman-Vaporis, Sydney Brunecz, and Czarina Powell. The students were coached by Bruce Horrigan, Mark Zemba, and Mike Sliwinski from The Ohio Attorney General’s Office, and Yuri Linetsky from Case Western School of Law.
The final round was judged by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund Sargus, Delaware County Judge David Gormley, and the State of Ohio’s Solicitor Eric Murphy. Other competition round judges included Judge Richard Frye and Judge Colleen O’Donnell of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas as well as experienced public service litigators and private practitioners from around the state.
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