West Linn team’s argument wins state Mock Trial contest
West Linn High School won the 2009 Oregon state Mock Trial competition Saturday, March 14, at the Mark O. Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland. The West Linn team is preparing for national competition May 6 to 10 in Atlanta.
The West Linn team faced a team from second-place West Salem High School in the final. Lincoln High School and St. Mary’s Academy, both from Portland, finished third and fourth respectively. Sixteen teams from throughout the state advanced from regional competitions to compete in the annual state finals.
West Linn High School teacher Matt Kellogg coached the West Linn team, and West Salem High School teacher Drew Moneke coached the West Salem team. Both West Linn and West Salem sent two teams to the state competition.
The teams argued a complicated wrongful death lawsuit. The plaintiff was the parent of a high school athlete who died after taking steroids. The defendants were the deceased athlete’s track coach and high school. Mock Trial cases are fictitious but are usually based on actual legal cases that raised similar issues.
U.S. District Court Judge Garr M. King presided over the championship round. Judges for the final round were Oregon Supreme Court Justice Thomas Balmer, Oregon State Bar President Gerry Gaydos, Oregon Court of Appeals Judge Ellen Rosenblum and Clackamas County Commissioner Ann Lininger.
Mock Trial is the signature event sponsored by the Classroom Law Project, a Portland nonprofit dedicated to the civic education of Oregon students.
