Mock Trial Round 3 Update
For the final round of the Mock Trial Competition the John Forrest Legal Eagles were face with a civil trial revolving around an employee having her employment terminated for exercising her workplace rights.
The Year 11 team presented an excellent case for the applicant with many objections made and sustained. The judge agreed and they won the case verdict. But, despite their best efforts the opposing legal team, from Carine Senior High School, was able to sway the scorer and walked away with the competition victory. It must be noted at this point that there was an incredible cross-examination of one of our witnesses by the opposition legal team. It went way over the 10-minute cross-examination limit (I believe it went on for nearly 30 minutes) and had everyone in the public gallery sitting on the edge of their seats. It was a classic battle of a witness wanting to explain their answers and a barrister who clearly wanted nothing more than "yes" or "no" responses. After the trial concluded, even the judge made specific reference to this exchange as one of the more "interesting moments" of the proceedings.
Our Year 10 team entered the court full of confidence after some objection practice during the week, and this confidence wasn't misplaced. Whilst they did not emerge from the court with the case verdict, they did sway the competition scorer that their legal arguments and advocacy skills were of a marginally superior quality to the Rockingham Senior High School legal team. The year 10 team excelled in all three of their trials and won them all. This puts them in the running for finals and we now have an agonising wait until the finals fixture is announced.
Every competitor in both our John Forrest teams over the three rounds has been professional, enthusiastic and displayed excellent communication skills. They prepared diligently and represented our school community wonderfully by showing the values of Integrity, Courtesy, Respect, Aspiration and Endeavour - We were proud to walk into every trial with all of you. Well Done.
- Mr Rossiter and Miss Lippert.
