Law Day celebration is tonight
NEWTON. The mock trial teams of Pope John XXIII Regional and Newton high schools will be honored at the free event.
Newton /
| 01 May 2024 | 12:33
Sussex County Bar Association president Brent Rafuse and secretary Vanessa Henderson judge a preliminary round of the Sussex County High School Mock Trial Competition. (Photos by Travis Nunziato)
Members of the Pope John XXIII Regional High School mock trial team pose with their teacher-coach Laurie Lynch, lawyer-coach Michael Hanifan and the final-round judges, Janine Allen and Dina Mikulka.
The Sussex County Bar Association will commemorate National Law Day at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 1 at the Sussex County Courthouse in Newton.
The mock trial teams of Pope John XXIII Regional and Newton high schools will be honored at the free event. They competed in the finals of the county tournament, and the Pope John team won.
The annual Law Day Award will be presented to Kelly Sherwood. She is an associate at Kennedys Law in Basking Ridge.
“I am honored to be considered for and to receive this year’s Law Day Award. It is a privilege to be named among past award recipients from the Sussex County legal community,” she said. “Throughout my 14 years in private practice, I have balanced my legal career with a commitment to the legal community, including my years of service with the Sussex County Bar Association. In doing so, I have developed lasting professional relationships with my colleagues and gained invaluable legal experience.”
Mark Hontz, Law Day chairman of the county bar association and a partner at Hollander, Strelzik, Pasculli, Vandenberg, Hontz & Kutyla, will present the 2024 Law Day Lecture “Voices of Democracy.”
There will be catered refreshments by Café Pierrot.
The county bar association has been celebrating Law Day annually since 1996.
“Each year, we open the courthouse for an evening of education and conversation celebrating the rule of law in our country,” Hontz said. “Students, their families, members of the public, lawyers, public officials, and members of the judiciary and courthouse staff are able to come together for an evening to celebrate our Constitution and recommit ourselves to supporting and strengthening our democracy. I emerge from the event each year with a renewed optimism about the future of our country and community.”
