2012 Annual Report - State Bar of Georgia

Message from the Chair
It is my privilege to pen this message as your 2010‐2011 Chair of the
Georgia High School Mock Trial Competition. Since 1988, the Georgia High
School Mock Trial Program has been one of the strongest programs sponsored
by the Young Lawyers Division of the State Bar of Georgia, and this year has
been no exception. Our season began with the annual Law Academy, a fourday
program for which students traveled to Athens, Georgia to participate. At
the conclusion of the program, the student bar examination was administered
to the Law Academy participants. Seventeen students passed the exam with
scores that gained them admission to the Georgia Student Bar Association; five
of the students were admitted with honors.
Ashley Moore Palmer is an
attorney in the Clayton County
Public Defender’s Office in
Jonesboro. She has volunteered
with the GHSMTC in many
different capacities since 2006.
This season, 105 teams participated in sixteen regional competitions
statewide. The teams were comprised of almost 1,500 students who hailed
from public and private schools and home school programs. The 16 teams that
prevailed at regionals were joined at the State competition by two wildcard
teams. At the end of four highly competitive and well fought rounds, Henry W.
Grady High School was named State Champion. Henry W. Grady represented
Georgia well at the National High School Competition held in Phoenix, Arizona
over Mother’s Day weekend, bringing home a 4 th place title.
Congratulations are due not only to Grady, but also to Norris Johnson
from Baldwin High School in Milledgeville, who earned the title of State Champion in the Craig Harding
Memorial Court Artist Contest, and Middle Georgia Christian Homeschool Association in Macon, who won the
2011 Professionalism Award, sponsored by the Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism.
At the conclusion of last year, I learned that I would be elevated from 1 st Vice Chair to Chair of the
Georgia High School Mock Trial Competition, despite my having only served in the former position for
approximately six months. After two years as Regional Coordinator of HSMT Region 3 (Atlanta), and a year as
2 nd Vice Chair (which was punctuated by my becoming a new mom), I had barely settled into the position of 1 st
Vice Chair before I was unexpectedly catapulted to Chair, and quite candidly, I hoped that I was up to the task.
Thankfully, I was, and that was due in no small part to all those who make this program such a success. I
would like to take this opportunity to thank all those individuals who give of their time to make this program
so successful: the students, teacher coaches, attorney coaches, parents, regional coordinators, evaluators,
presiding judges, and members of the High School Mock Trial Committee. The work that you do gives
students from all walks of life an opportunity to positively experience the legal system, and in the process, the
students gain invaluable academic and presentation skills that will serve them well, whether they pursue a
career in the legal profession or a dream of a different nature.
To the Young Lawyers Division, under the leadership of 2010‐2011 President Michael Geoffroy, the
State Bar of Georgia, the Counsel of State Court Judges, and all others who have generously supported us
throughout this season by giving of your time and financial resources – we say thank you! High School Mock
Trial, like all other non‐profit programs, relies on the generosity of donors. Especially in these difficult
economic times, please know how sincerely we appreciate your gifts, as they are vital to the life of this
program.
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