By Lookout Staff

December 8, 2015 -- Two Santa Monica student teams argued their way into the top 20 in a countywide mock trial competition that concluded last Wednesday, local School District officials announced this week.

Students from John Adams Middle School finished 12th among the 52 competing teams, while Santa Monica High School students finished 16th among 44 teams at the competition sponsored by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, a national nonprofit organization.

Parker Lauer, a John Adams student, took home the award as defense attorney of the year, said District spokesperson Gail Pinsker.

“The competition is an amazing combination of moot court, debate and theater,” said Yolanda Lewis, a parent of one of the John Adams team members.

Now in its 36th year, the Los Angeles Mock Trial Program attracts more than 2,000 Los Angeles County students in each year, according to the program’s website.

Local students learned last month that they did well in the countywide competition, but didn’t rank high enough to move in the national competition. Pinsker said

The finals were held on December 2, according to the program’s website.

The John Adams Middle School’s mock trial program was started in 2009 by two parents who were senior trial attorneys with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, Pinsker said.

One of the founders, Bill Sadler, is now a Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner. The other, Joel Koury, runs a law practice handling criminal cases.

Koury still oversees the John Adams mock trial team, along with retired public defender Stuart Glovin, Pinsker said. Both Sadler and Koury now coach the Samohi team, along with Lisa Roth, a deputy public defender and Chris Kanjo, a senior civil attorney who oversees the competition’s pretrial motion component with Glovin.

The John Adams mock trial team has finished in the top four of 50 schools in the competition in recent years, District officials said. The teams each consist of 16 students, who meet after school twice a week during the fall to practice and prepare for the competition in which students try mock criminal cases.

This year’s case was heard by a Los Angeles superior court judge, Pinsker said.

Samohi ‘s mock trial selection process starts early in the school year, according to Pinsker. Prospective team members attend a two-day seminar at school, where they are taught issues involving criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, trial advocacy and evidentiary rules. The students take turns putting on a case before they can earn a spot on the team.

The team roles include bailiff, court staff, testifying witnesses, prosecuting attorneys and defense attorneys. Pinsker said the competition helps teach youngsters about constitutional rights, legal analysis, formulating an argument and public speaking.