What is Mock Trial?
High school students act out a civil or criminal trial by arguing for either the prosecution or defense side against another team, which acts as the opposing side. Students work with their team to develop cases for both the prosecution and defense sides. Each side will appoint students who will take on the roles of trial attorneys, witnesses, and pre-trial attorneys, in addition to one bailiff. Teams typically consist of eight witnesses and up to six attorneys. Each side must come up with a pre-trial motion, opening statements, direct examinations, cross examinations, and closing arguments. The students will work together as a team to craft a strong, comprehensive, well-developed case that they will later present in competition. Teams will generally thoroughly practice and build their case for several weeks or even months before competing. This includes team practices, scrimmages, and independent work on the case. Then, the actual competition begins with teams going up against other local schools.
Some aspects of your case will likely be prepared in advance. For example, opening statements, which begin the trial, are usually scripted and rehearsed well before the actual competition. Additionally, attorneys are generally consistent in their direct examinations of witnesses from their own side. Witnesses in particular learn their witness statements months in advance.
All the components of the trial are strictly timed, and as such, students must be able to think quickly on their feet and communicate their points in a succinct yet effective manner.
Pretrial Motion: 6 minutes
Opening Statement: 5 minutes
Direct Examination: 24 minutes
Cross Examination: 20 minutes
Closing Arguments: 6 minutes
Rebuttal Argument: 2 minutes
Other parts of your case develop on the fly, and change throughout each trial. For example, closing arguments must respond to the trial in its totality, pulling together your side’s case with a refute of any contradictory material presented by the opposition. To allow for this evolution, breaks are structured into the competition, during which attorneys may discuss how to proceed.
Attorney vs. Witness
Mock Trial teams consists of both attorneys and witnesses. Teams typically consist of eight witnesses and four to six attorneys. Witnesses and Attorneys have different duties but are equally important to the success of the team.
Witness
What are the benefits of Mock Trial?
Mock Trial is a fantastic fit for students interested in pursuing the legal field. It gives students early experience in legal procedures, and a comprehensive, first hand look at what law looks like in practice. Even if you’re not interested in law specifically, these kinds of skills and experiences can also be important for history, sociology, anthropology, political science, or other subjects that intersect with the law.
On a more general note, Mock Trial also teaches students invaluable skills that are directly applicable to both academic and personal pursuits. Students who participate in Mock Trial gain analytical skills from analyzing cases and facts, and learn how to compose effective arguments and respond to questions or disputes; these kinds of abilities are extremely useful in college-level writing and discussion in general.
Mock Trial also provides students with the opportunity to develop their professionalism, confidence, and public speaking abilities, all of which are extremely important for both future academic and occupational endeavors. Having these kinds of abilities is useful for college interviews, job interviews, class participation in the university setting, and other scenarios students are sure to encounter.
Special Thanks to Lydia Tahraoui from CollegeVine
Each side can have up to 3 attorneys. The attorneys must give a pretrial motion, an opening statement, and a closing statement. At least two of the attorneys must direct examine at least one witness and cross examine at least one witness.
Attorneys typically have a bigger workload than witnesses -- they write an opening or closing statement, and may be the examining attorney for multiple witnesses. They also must learn the rules of evidence. It’s best for an attorney to know the whole case, including witnesses statements, to be best prepared for the trial.
Each side must have 4 witnesses, including 1 expert witness and 2-3 character witnesses. Witnesses learn their witness statements inside and out -- everything they say during trial is based on what is written in the text. For direct examinations, they practice with their attorney and formulate an appropriate answer for each question. However, cross examinations are performed by the opposing team, so witnesses also work with their attorneys on what not to say while they are on the stand.
Expert witnesses have the greatest amount of responsibility. Their testimonies are technical in nature and often relate to multiple articles of evidence. The best expert witnesses are familiar with the profession of their character beyond what is presented in the text.