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Goshen's Mock Trial team beats M-W for crack at regionals

| 10 Apr 2013 | 02:08
    Young Goshen attorneys Elijah Knowlton, Emily Shapiro and Daniel Solomon in a huddle preparing points for trial. (Photo by Ed Bailey)
    Young Goshen attorneys Elijah Knowlton, Emily Shapiro and Daniel Solomon in a huddle preparing points for trial. (Photo by Ed Bailey)
    David Solomon, showing a brochure as evidence in the mock trial held between Goshen and Monroe-Woodbury High School. Solomon, representing Goshen, won the oral orgument on 4/9/2013. (Photo by Ed Bailey)
    David Solomon, showing a brochure as evidence in the mock trial held between Goshen and Monroe-Woodbury High School. Solomon, representing Goshen, won the oral orgument on 4/9/2013. (Photo by Ed Bailey)
    Judge Jeffrey Berry presiding over the mock trial.
    Judge Jeffrey Berry presiding over the mock trial.
    Lead prosecutor for Monroe-Woodbury Christine Phelan delivers her summation at the old courthouse in Goshen.(Photo by Ed Bailey)
    Lead prosecutor for Monroe-Woodbury Christine Phelan delivers her summation at the old courthouse in Goshen.(Photo by Ed Bailey)

GOSHEN — Goshen's legal team beat Monroe-Woodbury in the Orange County Mock Trial Finals held Wednesday, April 9, at the 1841 Courthouse in Goshen.

These young counselors have earned the cred to advance to the regional competition, which will be held on Saturday, April 27, at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.

But first, Goshen had to beat both Middletown and Pine Bush in Friday's Orange County Mock Trial Competition. Goshen's defense team prevailed against Middletown's prosecutorial challenge in the morning, and vanquished Pine Bush in the semi-finals held later that day. And before that, all teams spent months preparing for their first round of presentations in court on March 16.

The students play both the roles of the plaintiff and the defendants after studying affidavits and court procedures under the guidance of an attorney-coach and an advisor from their schools.

This is the eighth time in nine years that the team from Goshen — a village famous since the 18th century for its historic "Lawyers Row — has won the Mock Trial championship in Orange County.

A case from the headlines
This year's case involves a subject often discussed in today's news: the proliferation of for-profit colleges, and how well they serve the public's interest.

In the hypothetical civil case, Morgan Martin v. Cattaraugus Programming University (CPU), a student is suing CPU for false and deceptive representations of its accreditation. The defendant, CPU, is charged with deceptive business practices for giving misleading statements to the plaintiff during the student's tour of the college, which allegedly induced the plaintiff to apply for admission to the University.

Since graduating from CPU, the student hasn't been able to find work in his field, or even in a related field. Several prospective employers have advised Morgan that his/her degree is “not worth the paper it is printed on" because CPU maintains a poor academic reputation.

CPU disagrees, saying that the student's lack of success in getting a job is the result of his own laziness and poor study habits during his time as a student, and in his failure to read CPU’s promotional materials and application and financial aid forms more carefully.

The Mock Trial is sponsored by Orange-Ulster BOCES and the Orange County Bar Association. The countywide tournament is the first stage in the state tournament sponsored by the New York State Bar Association.

The program is coordinated in Orange County by Nancy Faddis-DeCerbo and Evelyn Schneider of Orange-Ulster BOCES and the Honorable Carol S. Klein, Family Court Judge, who represents the Bar Association. The Bar Association provides judges to hear the cases.