PARIS – Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School students will compete in round two of the Maine State High School Mock Trial Competition at 1 p.m. today in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn.

They will compete with Edward Little High School of Auburn.

The Maine State High School Mock Trial Competition got under way last week with 27 high school teams competing in courtrooms across the state.

The mock trials, involving 350 students this year, are an academic competition that tests students’ critical thinking skills, said Julia Underwood, co-director of Maine Law & Civics Education, a coalition of the University of Maine and the Maine State Bar Association. The competition is in its 11th year.

The competition educates students about the legal system, the judicial process, the attorneys’ roles, and the rules of evidence.

This year, students will try a libel suit. In the case, an embittered student allegedly posts a message on the school’s Internet bulletin board asserting that a particular teacher “is a druggie.”

The teacher, a former lawyer who demands the highest standards of his pupils and their work, is, in fact, a recovering cocaine addict. The students will argue whether the posted message defames the teacher because his addiction is inactive. Team members will fill the roles of plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys and witnesses. The trials are unscripted.

The public is invited to the mock trials, but seating is limited.

The competition will culminate in a state championship trial Dec. 8. Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court will preside.

Hampden Academy was the 2003 mock trial champion and represented Maine in the national competition in New Orleans. This year’s nationals will be held in May at Charlotte, N.C.