Connolly Gallagher Attorneys Coach Local High School Mock Trial Team

Two members of our Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Alan Silverstein and Karen Bifferato, concluded a successful season of coaching the mock trial team at Howard Vo-Tech High School, which is located just a few blocks from our firm in downtown Wilmington.

The mock trial season begins in November of each year and concludes with a state competition that is held around the end of February. This year, 18 teams participated in the Delaware mock trial competition, and of those teams, Howard was the only Vo-Tech school to participate and was also one of the few public schools that presented a team for the competition.

The participating students are required to become attorneys, witnesses and time keepers, and they present both sides of an entire civil or criminal case before a Judge and jury members in a Delaware state court room. Participation in mock trial requires months of hard work and mastery of the case materials, Rules of Evidence and Rules of the Competition.

The Howard students did a fantastic job overall, and one of the students won a gavel for being selected as “Best Witness” during a round of the competition. In addition, Howard placed in the top three schools that scored the most points from other teams for the civility/Delaware Way award that was presented at the end of the competition.