Colodny Fass attorneys serve as judge, scorers in first ever virtual mock trial in South Florida
Attorneys Jo Stanley, Fernando Valle, and Tim West of Colodny Fass proudly joined Broward County Public School's Applied Learning Department to host the 20th anniversary of the 17th Judicial Circuit's Mock Trial competition on Friday, February 26th. Despite being the first ever virtual mock trial tournament in South Florida, it featured 168 students on 14 teams, including eleven public and private high schools and the addition of three public middle school programs. At the conclusion of the day-long event, Nova Middle School and St. Thomas Aquinas High School were crowned champions of their respective divisions.
The online event was made possible through a long-standing partnership between Broward County Public Schools and judges from the 17th Judicial Circuit, with special assistance from the Honorable Judge Michelle Towbin-Singer who oversaw the coordination of local judges to preside over the student trials and provide feedback to the teams, and Chief Judge Jack Tuter who welcomed the students at the beginning of the event. During course of three competitive "rounds" of competition, the students participating (most of whom aspire to be attorneys) received invaluable "face time" with the judges, attorneys, and law students.
For this year's competition, Tim West served as a presiding judge and acted as the Chair of the Appellate Committee for the tournament. Jo Stanley and Fernando Valle spearheaded the local legal community in scoring the competitors and helped to make the event uniquely educational for the participants. BCPS plans for the 2022 competition to be even bigger and in person at the 17th Circuit Courthouse.