At Northeast High,
when words mean a lot

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Usually, the last place a parent wants to see their teenage son or daughter is in prison.
But for a group of Northeast High School students, some time spent behind the airtight doors of the city’s Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility has been not only a valuable learning experience, but a positive one too.
They’ve been learning their way around a court of law straight from one of the city’s foremost attorneys, Prisons Commissioner Leon A. King II.
The youths are all members of Northeast High’s entrant in the Philadelphia Mock Trial Competition, organized annually by the Temple University Law School and the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division.
With more than four years under his belt heading the prison system following many years as a city solicitor, King is no young lawyer. But in several years’ time, many of the Mock Trial participants could fit that moniker.
"I want to be a lawyer, so this is good experience," said senior Melissa Duffy, a second-year participant and team co-captain. "I’m good at arguing in general."
As one would assume from the name of the activity, Mock Trial is like a courtroom theater where students play the roles of attorneys and witnesses in a fictitious litigation.
About 50 schools around the Philadelphia region field teams. Head-to-head competitions started in January and continue through March, or beyond for teams that qualify for the statewide tournament organized by the Pennsylvania Bar Association.
Weeks prior to competition, teams receive all of the information they’ll need to prepare their case, including the criminal or civil complaint, witness statements and other details of the case.
Teams must prepare as plaintiffs and defendants, since they will be required to switch roles on different trial dates.
Generally, the group must share the work as one student delivers opening arguments, others conduct the direct questioning and cross-examination of witnesses, and others play the roles of those witnesses — including defendant and, in civil cases, plaintiff.
English and theater teacher Theresa Bramwell is the Northeast team’s faculty sponsor. It’s an ideal role for Bramwell, who also directs the school musical.
"There is a lot of drama in the courtroom," she said.
The job for legal advisers like King is to help the students throttle the drama within the parameters of courtroom procedure and decorum. The students often meet for practice in the commissioner’s office.
King and Michael Resnick, the commissioner’s former colleague in the solicitor’s office who now serves as the prison system’s director of legal affairs, signed up for the duty through Temple Law in 2001. They were assigned to the Northeast High team. Bramwell had become sponsor three years earlier.
"You hear a lot of bad things about kids, but these are the good kids. They’re doing the right things," King said.
The mission of the program is close to his own heart. "The purpose is to spread understanding of the law and encourage kids to get involved in the legal profession," King said.
Likewise, professional aspirations are the main objective of many of the students. "I really want to be a lawyer too," said senior Evisa Frasheri, a three-year team member and co-captain. "In my family, I’d actually be the first one to go to college."
Frasheri plans to use a law degree as a route into politics. She hopes to be a U.S. senator some day.
Already, the youths say, they’re learning how time-consuming and detail-oriented practicing law can be.
Their current case involves a civil action by a teenage girl claiming that a fellow high school student "cyber-stalked" her via an Internet messaging system. The plaintiff claims that the defendant’s personal threats of violence caused her mental anguish and physical illness.
The defendant denies the allegations, claiming that someone else used her "screen" name to make the threats and that she has an alibi for the time when the threats were delivered.
In addition to Duffy and Frasheri, student participants include junior Vanessa Lamothe and Michael Adams; sophomores Koraldo Kajanaku, Michael Nunez and Simcha Katsnelson; and freshman Naomi Placid.
The team is improving, according to King. Masterman High is one of perennial champions in the city and defeated Northeast handily head-to-head last year.
"This year, (Northeast) went up against Masterman and they lost, but it was very competitive," King said.
"Another thing I like about Northeast is you get a very eclectic group of kids."
The students must work hard individually and collectively. They must have a thick skin, too, as criticism of individual arguments and presentations is considered integral to improvement.
"It’s like taking another subject," said Duffy.
"You’ve got to solve (the case) step by step," Frasheri said.
The team practices every day after school and on Saturdays.
“There’s a lot more detail than it actually looks," Duffy said. "When I started, I thought a lawyer could just say anything.” ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com