Young Lawyers Section News
| Publication year | 2013 |
| Pages | 07 |
| Citation | Vol. 82 No. 2 Pg. 07 |
Mock Trial Matters
By Brooks G. Severson, Fleeson, Gooing, Coulson & Kitch LLC, Wichita, bseverson@fleeson.com
During the past few years that I have served on the KBA YLS board, the individuals in charge of planning and executing the YLS' annual Kansas High School Mock Trial Competition, sponsored by Shook, Hardy & Bacon, have never ceased to amaze me. This year is no different, and in many ways I am even more in awe of our members' dedication to this worthwhile program.
The YLS has been lucky enough to have Jennifer Michaels serve as the mock trial chair for the past three years, and her dedication is unwavering. Jennifer is an associate attorney with Millsap & Singer LLC in Leawood. For a bit of background, Jennifer's passion for mock trial began as far back as high school, when she participated in a mock trial program. She remained involved with mock trial through college, and following her graduation from law school, she became involved with the YLS' mock trial program. Last year I had the opportunity to assist Jennifer at the state tournament here in Wichita and was amazed by not only her passion for the program, but also the seemingly effortless way in which she ran the tournament.
During our down time at the tournament, we brainstormed various ways not only to make the current program better, but also hopefully to grow the program in years to come. That is where the idea of a mock trial subcommittee was born. To put it bluntly, this job is simply too huge to expect one person to handle it with no help. The fact that Jennifer has done just that for the past two tournaments is pretty incredible. Accordingly, we did some recruiting, and before we knew it, Scott Gordon and Shawn Yancy, both YLS members and mock trial enthusiasts, jumped on board.
Scott is currently an attorney for the Kansas State Department of Education in Topeka. He competed in mock trial, forensics, and debate throughout high school and continued to remain involved with forensics and debate throughout his college career. Shawn is an attorney with Kansas Department of Labor in Topeka. He competed in mock trial in college and has actively worked with the Topeka/Shawnee County Youth Court since 2008. Both have volunteered to judge countless rounds at the YLS' mock trial tournaments over the past couple of years.
The first goal of the subcommittee was to draft...
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