NJSBF.org - NJ Attorney Ronald Appleby Joins National High School Mock Trial Championship Board of Directors

NJ Attorney Ronald Appleby Joins National High School Mock Trial Championship Board of Directors

Ronald C. Appleby, Esq., the chair of the Mock Trial Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Foundation’s Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition, has just been elected to a two-year term as a member of the Board of Directors of the national competition, known as the National High School Mock Trial Championship (NHSMTC).

“After seven years judging at the nationals, I recently put my name in for the first time to be considered for its board,” said Appleby, Assistant Deputy Public Defender in the Office of the Public Defender, Woodbury, New Jersey. “I wanted to become more involved on the national level. I enjoy helping to write and edit New Jersey’s case pattern and wanted to be involved in doing that for the national annual case. I am very gratified that the state coordinators voted to include me.”

He joined the Foundation’s (NJSBF) mock trial committee in 2005 and became more intensely involved with the creation of each of New Jersey’s annual cases when he took over the chairmanship in 2008. At that time, NJSBF was co-sponsoring an alternate national competition, the American Mock Trial Invitational, electing not to participate in the NHSMTC until it altered its competition-scheduling policy and accommodated teams’ weekend religious obligations as needed. When that accommodation was made policy in 2010, the Foundation discontinued its national competition and rejoined NHSMTC.

The 2016 nationals took place in Boise, Idaho, May 12-15, with a “grueling schedule” according to Appleby.

In Boise he watched New Jersey’s champion team, Bergen Catholic High School, in two rounds and was floored by the students’ skills, as well as the school’s commitment to its team. “The principal of the school thought the event so important that he came along on the trip to the nationals,” said Appleby. “Normally, only the attorney-coach and the teacher-coach attend. That dedication made a big impression on me.”

Appleby is looking forward to becoming hands-on nationally and seeing the teen mock-attorneys in practice. “I’m impressed by how much effort is put into the national competition, not just by the organization but by the caliber of the students who compete in it. It’s very gratifying for trial attorneys to watch the kids put in such great effort.”

One other reason figured in his desire to have a place on the national board: “I wanted to give New Jersey a voice in the national competition. We were in the top ten last year; this year we were the only team in the northeast to place in the top 15. We also had the number one courtroom artist, Sarah Almeda of New Milford High School, in the first year of the Courtroom Artist Student Competition.”

Previously in private practice as well as a Middlesex County prosecutor, Appleby has been with the Office of the Public Defender for seven years.

Founded in 1958, the New Jersey State Bar Foundation is the educational and philanthropic arm of the New Jersey State Bar Association. The Bar Foundation's mission is to promote public understanding of the law through free educational programs. Among its activities, the Foundation conducts seminars and conflict resolution training, publishes materials, operates a videotape loan library and speakers bureau, and coordinates elementary, middle and high school mock trial competitions. For more information about the Foundation's programs and publications, visit us online at www.njsbf.org or call 1-800-FREE-LAW.

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