Tomorrow's trial lawyers get first-rate training today: Trial Lawyers Section promotes the art of advocacy.

Tucked away in a conference room at the Hyatt Regency Miami, a civil trial is underway about a police officer severely burned when his cruiser is struck in the rear and explodes into flames.

Lawyers look smart and polished in suits, as they approach the witness who helped drag the officer out of the car to safety and a representative of the car manufacturer. Exhibits about the Crest Victor Police Interceptor cruiser rest on easels. The judge wearing a black robe overrules an objection. Jurors seated to the right listen carefully, scribbling notes.

This trial has all the intensity of a multi-million-dollar product liability case worthy of grabbing front-page headlines. What is really at stake during this gut-churning drama is figuring out which is the best college student trial team in the state.

Welcome to the Chester Bedell Memorial Mock Trial Competition at The Florida Bar's Midyear Meeting, an annual rite of winter sponsored by the Trial Lawyers Section.

Miami lawyer Terry Vento has been involved with the mock trials for nine years, seven of them spent at the helm running the elaborate production. Through the years, she has cajoled some of the best lawyers and judges in the Miami area to donate their time to serve as presiding judges and scoring judges for the event.

"It dawned on me I had a wonderful group of friends gathered over the years with significant experience and talent, and I could put together those judges and lawyers to do this in a high-level way," said Vento, who has practiced law for 26 years.

Coral Gables Lawyer Cynthia Everett co-chairs the event, and it's her job to get a fictional problem for the mock trials, often based on real-life events; prepare and disseminate the exhibits; answer any questions from the teams' coaches; and make sure the "courtrooms" and students have everything they need.

"This is a labor of love," said Everett, who hopes to come back as a judge, as she has done before her organizational duties. "It's an all-around great experience. Lawyers and judges who participate all come out of it amazed at how well prepared the students are and their dedication to this competition."

In the beginning, Vento admits, she "twisted elbows to get them to do this."

But the Chester Bedell competition has taken on "a positive momentum of its own," and the cadre of participants include sitting state and federal judges and some of the best and brightest trial attorneys who sit in the jury box and critique the budding...