Recent News

January 14, 2011

Judge for a Day? Sign Up for Mock Trials

The annual district and regional competition for the Ohio high school mock trials is calling for attorneys to serve as judges for the 2011 event.

The District Competition is Friday, February 4. Forty attorneys or judges are needed for the competition to be held at the Franklin County Municipal Court, between 1 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

The Regional Competition is scheduled Friday, February 25. Twenty-one volunteers are called to serve as mock judges at the Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. District Court, Southern District Courthouse, 85 Marconi Boulevard, between 10:30 and 3:30, with a lunch break.

A 45-minute training session is mandatory and may be attended at the Columbus Bar on any of the following dates and times: Monday, January 24 at noon; Wednesday, January 26 at 5 p.m.; or Tuesday, February 1 at noon. A box lunch will be provided at noon training sessions.

This year’s competition analyzes the intriguing legal question: What are the living family member’s rights to the body parts of a deceased family member? In this case, when an individual dies suddenly in a car accident, the family consents to an autopsy to determine the cause of death. During the course of the autopsy, a section of the brain is removed and sent to pathology where it is discovered that the brain cells are regenerative (or "immortal"). The decedent’s family has filed a lawsuit against the county coroner alleging that the coroner has violated the family’s due process rights by sending the regenerative cells to a research lab instead of returning them to the body.

Contact Donna Sweet at 614/221.4112 or donna@cbalaw.org to obtain a volunteer form.