(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Capital Law School earned top honors Sunday in Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s 2015 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. The annual competition is in its third year.
“This competition was founded to help Ohio law students learn about public service legal careers and give them courtroom experience in front of judges,” said Attorney General DeWine. “I applaud the team from Capital 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. Seven schools participated in this year’s competition, with the University of Dayton fielding two teams.
The competition simulated litigation regarding a telemarketing fraud case. Each law school team presented both sides of the 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 Capital’s winning team included Sharon Schnelle, Jose Juarez, Nicholas Kolitsos, Kaitlyn Stephens, Alexander Korecky, Sandra Carrillo, Melissa Bright, and Sean Heffernan. The students were coached by Scott Longo, Frank Carson, Patrick Denier, and Amy Brown from The Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
The final round was judged by Tenth District Court of Appeals Judge William A. Klatt and Franklin County Court Common Pleas Judge Charles A. Schneider. Other competition round judges included Judge Colleen O’Donnell of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Judge William Woods of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Judge Mark Serrott of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, and Judge Marianne Hemmeter of the Delaware County Municipal Court, as well as experienced public service litigators and private practitioners from around the state.
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