On Saturday, April 16, the Onondaga County Bar Association hosted the New York State Bar Association Region 2 Mock Trial Series championship and the team from Fayetteville-Manlius High School claimed victory and will move on to represent the region in the New York Statewide Mock Trial Tournament Finals in Albany from May 15 to 17.
The team from F-M was led by high school advisor and social studies teacher Joseph Worm and legal advisor Danielle M. Fogel, a partner at Sugarman Law Firm, to their victory over Broome County champions Binghamton high school in the final trial. The regional championship was held at the US District Court for Northern District of New York in the James M. Hanley Federal Building.
U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of New York Thérèse Wiley Dancks presided over the final case, ultimately deciding in favor of F-M’s strength in presenting the prosecution. Members of the team include Payton Brewer, Mathieson Byer, Sophia Byer, Patrice Calancie, Matthew Crovella, Song Tao Guo, Connor Hargrove, David Haungs, Julie Howard, John Hrbac, Lauren Koss, Jordan Krouse, Nathan Montgomery, Zain Nichols, Grant Olick-Sutphen, Sarah Percoski, Sucheer Rao, Tyler VanBeveren, Richard Wang, Agatha Woodbury and Shawn Wu.
Other teams that traveled to Syracuse to compete in the championship include Horseheads High School from Steuben/Chemung County, Gilbertsville–Mt. Upton High School from Chenango County, Thomas R. Proctor High School from Oneida County, Pulaski High School from Oswego County and Lehman Alternative Community School from Tompkins County.
Prior to the April 16 competition, on March 31, the F-M team won the Onondaga County Championship which followed a six-week competition among 14 area teams held at Nottingham High School.
The Onondaga County Bar Association’s functions are to foster growth of the science of law, promote law reform, to facilitate the process of justice, to maintain high standards of ethics in the legal profession and support worthwhile projects.
