Lodi High School Mock Trial Team celebrates their first-place finish Feb. 10 at the regional tournament in Juneau. From left to right: Amanda Crowder, Alison Klann, Emily Oetzman, ​Elizabeth TenBarge, Ian Seidler, Kristin Nachreiner, Hunter Bowman, Zach O’Connor and Jordan Mefford.

Feb. 15, 2018 - After competing in regional events around the state, 22 Wisconsin high schools are advancing to the High School Mock Trial semifinals in March.

A total of 121 teams competed Feb. 10 in regional trials of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s 35th Annual High School Mock Trial Competition. The teams traveled to regional trials in 11 courthouses around the state to participate in the State Bar program that started in 1983.

The winning teams will compete in the semifinals March 9 and 10 at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison. The top two teams will go on to compete in a final round March 11 in the Wisconsin Supreme Court courtroom.

The state finalist team will represent Wisconsin at the National Mock Trial Championships in Reno, Nevada, in May.

The mock trial program provides high school students with an opportunity to act as attorneys and witnesses in a court case developed by State Bar members. This year’s students – in teams of six to 12 – unravel a civil case.

Each team appears before a panel of volunteer lawyer judges on a fictional civil property damages case, drafted by members of the State Bar Mock Trial writer’s committee. In this year’s case - Dig Deep Iron Mining Company v Jessie Green – a mining company is seeking damages from local activists who the company alleges sabotaged its equipment.

The Mock Trial program is funded by a generous grant from the Wisconsin Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the State Bar of Wisconsin, supporting law-related education and public service programs statewide.

2018 Mock Trial Regional Winners

The teams finishing first and second in each region will compete in the semifinals. They include: