PORTLAND – The semifinal competitions of the annual Maine Mock Trial Competition will begin with Hampden Academy, the returning champion from 2005, vs. Catherine McAuley High School on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

The second semifinal competition is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 4, with Cape Elizabeth vs. Lewiston High School. The winners will compete for the mock trial state champion title. Several dozen volunteer lawyers and judges participate in the competition, which is sponsored by the Maine State Bar Association with support from the Maine Bar Foundation.

Competing schools will try a civil case involving a plaintiff injured during a paintball game. Each match consists of two trials: one team acts as the plaintiff and the other as defense in the first trial, then they switch sides for the second trial. Team members fill the roles of plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys and witnesses; the trials are unscripted.

The Hampden Academy and Catherine McAuley High School teams will compete on in the U.S. District Court in Portland.

Cape Elizabeth and Lewiston will compete in the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland with Justice Susan Calkins, associate justice, Maine Supreme Judicial Court, presiding. Cape Elizabeth High School leader is Mary Page and the team is coached by attorneys Elaine Falender and Richard O’Meara. Lewiston’s team worked with teacher Joan Macri and attorney coach Jodi Nofsinger.

The competition educates students about the legal system, the judicial process, the attorneys’ roles and the rules of evidence. It teaches effective communication, critical thinking, principles of advocacy and team work.

The mock trials will culminate in a state championship trial on Thursday, Dec. 14, at the Cumberland County Courthouse, presided over by Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley, associate justice, Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Last year’s champion, Hampden Academy, represented Maine in the national finals in Oklahoma City, Okla. This year, the state champion will be eligible to participate in the national finals in Dallas, Texas, in May 2007.

Lewiston’s mock trial team is composed of Athena Andoniades, Ernest Brown, Michael Butler, Husayn Carnegie, Ann Danforth, Stephanye Doucette, Tobias Farnsworth, Cassandra Jensen, Luke Jensen, Tanya Lama, Ashley McWhorter, Ashley Morgan, Calder Phillips-Grafflin, Matthew Shaw and Danielle Taylor.