We are proud to announce that on June 15, 2006 our very own Ron Levitt received the Outstanding Volunteer Service Award from the New Jersey State Bar Foundation at their annual awards dinner.  Ron received this award for his work as the Chair of the Foundation’s Mock Trial Committee.  He has been Chair of the committee since 2003.   Ron first became involved with New Jersey's High School Mock Trial Competition in 1989, when his son volunteered his services to serve as attorney coach for the local high school team. 

The NJSBF Mock Trial Committee is responsible for developing, organizing and running the annual State Championship high school competition.  The competition, which involves more than 250 high schools, both public and private,  involves the trial of a case specifically written for the competition.  Additionally, this past May, Ron was instrumental in the launching of the first American Mock Trial Invitational (“AMTI”) Competition held at the University of North Carolina Law School at Chapel Hill.   The competition pitted teams from several states and South Korea in the trial of an alleged hate crime.  Ron was the person primarily responsible for adapting a former North Carolina state competition case to a post-9/11 set of facts, involving the assault of a Muslim foreign exchange student.  Ron and the committee are presently finishing up the case for the 2006-07 New Jersey competition and he is about to begin work on next year's AMTI competition to be held in New Jersey.

At this year's AMTI event, Ron served as a judge for three rounds of the competition. When asked about  the teams’ performances, Ron commented, “Every team did an amazing job in analyzing the issues and performing in the competition.  It was difficult to comprehend that they could do such a masterful job in analyzing the problem and developing their trial advocacy skills in the short amount of time they had to prepare for this event.” 

Ron is a senior partner in our firm's litigation department.  A trial lawyer for 37 years, Ron concentrates his practice in complex litigation involving personal injury, product liability, professional malpractice, and construction defect litigation.  Ron is also a certified Mediator and an Arbitrator for the Superior Court of New Jersey, as well as a member of DRI, NJDA, the New Jersey State Bar Association, and several county bar associations.  Anyone interested in more information about the NJSBF or the AMTI mock trial competitions should feel free to contact Ron.