It was a case about a five-year-old boy who was bitten by a snake in a pet shop. His family said the pet shop was responsible and should pay for medical expenses. The pet shop owner disagreed.

The plaintiff's attorney was sitting across from the 18-year-old pet shop employee on the witness stand, when his cross-examination turned aggressive.

“Your employer gave you permission to talk on your cell phone while you were working?” the attorney asked.

“Well, it wasn't a whole conversation. I just needed to…”

The attorney interrupted:

“So when you should have been locking the cage of a snake, your back was turned and you were on your phone and it resulted in Mikey Fingers being bit.”

“It wasn't like that…” the witness stammered.

“No further questions, your honor.”

The judge paused, looked up and said with a broad smile, “You're kind of crisp, aren't you?”

The courtroom erupted in giggles.

It was just one of many moments of levity on a recent morning for scores of fourth- and fifth-graders participating in mock trials at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. The trials, original cases written and acted out by the students, were among two of the winners in the New Jersey State Bar Foundation's (NJSBF's) 19th annual Law Fair Competition, which is open to third- through sixth-graders throughout the state.

Law Fair is part of the foundation's legal education program, and includes the Law Adventure Competition, for seventh- and eighth-graders; and the Vincent J. Apruzzese High School Mock Trial Competition. This year's winner of the high school competition, Colts Neck High School, represented New Jersey in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in Athens, Ga. last month.

Following the rules and format described on the NJSBF website, students participating in the competitions must write original mock trial cases. They are judged on their originality and educational value in teaching students about the law. Law Adventure mock trials must also incorporate one of the two themes offered, which this year were plagiarism and cybercrime.

The winning cases from this year's Law Fair and Law Adventure programs were performed before a student audience the last two weeks of May at the Law Center.

On a recent morning, excited chatter filled the lobby of the Law Center as busloads of elementary school students entered to watch teams from Demarest Elementary School in Bloomfield present two mock trials and to serve as the jury. The fourth-graders won first place for their snake bite case and the fifth-graders won honorable mention for a case about a drone.

William G. Brigiani, an attorney and former NJSBF trustee, acted as judge. Sporting a burgundy Harry Potter scarf and a neatly pinched handlebar mustache that granted him a wizened look, Brigiani occasionally paused to explain a legal term or procedure, often with humor and a light touch.

“Do you mind if I comment?” he asked after the plaintiff's attorney cut off the pet store employee's testimony.

“If it's your witness, you don't want that because the jury is losing information. So you would object to counsel interrupting,” Brigiani said.

Kelly Fallows, a Maurice River Township Elementary School teacher, brought her fourth-grade class to watch the mock trials. The class entered the competition for the first time this year, and several had already asked the principal if they could start a debate team and said they wanted to become lawyers.

“They learned a lot about the difference between civil and criminal cases and about debating,” Fallows said.

“I learned a lot, too,” she said.