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Ada High School’s maroon team defeated Shawnee High School in the final round of competition to claim the Oklahoma High School Mock Trial Championship. Ada will represent Oklahoma in the national competition, to be held in Dallas May 10 – 12.

“This is Ada’s first time to win the state mock trial championship,” said Oklahoma Bar Association President Stephen Beam. “Its team members demonstrated excellent presentation and reasoning skills, and they will do a great job representing our state in the national championship.”

The competition was held Tuesday evening in the Bell Courtroom at the OU College of Law in Norman. The two teams argued a civil case that alleged wrongful termination of employment under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The annual competition is sponsored by the Oklahoma Bar Association Young Lawyers Division and the Oklahoma Bar Foundation. Teams are paired with a volunteer attorney coach.

The judges evaluated the students based on their familiarity of the case and the formulation of their arguments. Students received points for each phase of the trial, opening, direct and cross examination, closing argument and how well their witnesses responded.

This year’s winners of the best attorney awards were Quaid Johns of Ada and Marco Del Moral of Shawnee. Gessica Sewell of Ada and Anne Alger of Shawnee were chosen as the top witnesses.

Ada’s mock trial team is coached by Angie Dean and its attorney coach is Frank Stout. Returning to the team for a third year are Quaid Jones and Chris Roberson. Jane Cooper has participated for two years. New to the team are Katy Caudle, Willy Gould, April Hanson, Kris Lowry, Daniel Luhmann, Lauren Poe, Jake Rudd, Gessica Sewell and Kadi Uhack.

Out of the 49 teams that began competing in January, the top finishers are, in third place, Christian Heritage Academy; fourth, Clinton High School; fifth, Catoosa High School; sixth, El Reno High School; seventh, Broken Arrow High School; and eighth, Jenks High School.

Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Judge David Lewis served as presiding judge during the contest finals. Scoring judges were U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Niles Jackson, Oklahoma City; Judge Millie Otey, Tulsa; retired Judge Ken Dickerson, Piedmont; Judge Daman Cantrell, Tulsa; and retired Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Hardy Summers, Oklahoma City.

More than 400 judges and attorneys volunteered their time to work with mock trial teams as coaches and to conduct the competitions. Jennifer Scott of Oklahoma City served as chairperson of the Young Lawyers Division Mock Trial Committee.

The 15,000-member Oklahoma Bar Association, headquartered in Oklahoma City, was created by the Oklahoma Supreme Court to advance the administration of justice and to foster and maintain learning, integrity, competence, public service and high standards of conduct among Oklahoma’s legal community.