A mock trial is a simulation or enactment of a judicial proceeding. Mock trials provide students with knowledge of the judicial system, legal process, and courtroom procedures. Mock trials may be based on historical events, cases of contemporary interest, school events, or hypothetical situations and fact patterns. The format of a mock trial can be either formal or informal. The formal vs. In United States courtrooms, elaborate rules regulate the admission of evidence. These rules ensure that both parties receive a fair hearing and exclude evidence that is irrelevant, untrustworthy, or unduly prejudicial.
For purposes of a classroom mock trial, the rules of evidence may be greatly simplified. The following rules are those most commonly applied to a classroom mock trial. If there is any physical evidence e. In classroom situations, student attorneys may object if the other side introduces evidence that cannot reasonably be deduced from the fact pattern given.
Mock Trial. Purpose A mock trial is a simulation or enactment of a judicial proceeding. Procedures Distribute the mock trial materials to the class. All students should read the entire set of materials including facts of the case, witness statements, and any other material. Assign or ask for students to volunteer for the various roles in the mock trial. Depending on the type of trial, students should be selected to play the roles of attorneys, witnesses, bailiff, and court reporter.
You can form a jury using students from your class, students from outside the class e. Generally a teacher plays the role of the judge in order to ensure proper courtroom procedure. Prepare students for the mock trial by dividing the class into training groups: Plaintiff team a prosecution team in a criminal trial : ask students to prepare opening statements, prepare direct and cross-examination questions, prepare witnesses for their testimony on the stand, and closing arguments.
Be sure to share the rules of evidence with students as they prepare for the trial. Defense team: ask students to prepare opening statements, prepare direct and cross-examination questions, prep witnesses for examination and cross-examination, and prepare closing arguments. Conduct the trial. As you can probably tell, this is intense and structured competition. Students often prepare for Mock Trial competitions months in advance, and yet they will still need to improvise and be quick thinkers for certain parts of the competition like the cross-examination.
Thus, Mock Trial is great at developing hard memorization skills, improvisation techniques, and general comfort with public speaking. There is a lot to be learned here but a lot of hard work involved as well.
Schools who have developed teams may have their own selection process for who gets to compete, but in general, anyone can try it. So if you have a genuine interest in learning what it is like to be in a courtroom setting, form intelligent and persuasive arguments, work with a team, and develop great public speaking skills, you should absolutely try it.
You should also give Mock Trial a try if you are thinking that you want to pursue a related subject in college and beyond. For instance, if you are thinking that you might want to pursue law school, go into politics, or even pursue any other type of humanities subject, Mock Trial may certainly be worth your while. Our free chancing engine takes into account your history, background, test scores, and extracurricular activities to show you your real chances of admission—and how to improve them.
Mock Trial is one of those activities that allow you to develop multiple skills at once, all of which will be helpful for you in college and beyond. By participating in Mock Trial competitions, you will have the opportunity to learn how to work as a team, creating compelling and persuasive arguments, think on your feet and improvise, and much more.
Moreover, you will also gain lots of hard skills that could be applicable to a career in legal studies, the law, or political science. After all, Mock Trial is meant to closely resemble an actual courtroom situation, and the judges are sometimes people with experience in these areas.
So if you like Mock Trial in high school, you have the opportunity to continue to pursue it in college and beyond! For instance, we just released an Ultimate Guide to Objections in Mock Trial that could surely help you out. Want access to expert college guidance — for free?
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What is Mock Trial? The time limits for each section are as follows: Opening Statement: 5 minutes Direct and Redirect Examination: 25 minutes Cross and Recross Examination: 25 minutes Pre-Closing Preparation: 2 minutes Closing Argument: 9 minutes Rebuttal prosecution only : remaining time before the end of the trial.
Who Should Join Mock Trial?
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