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By the Juris Education Interview Team
Allison Lord is the President of the Drexel Undergraduate Mock Trial team.
For us, we participate in the American Mock Trial Association’s circuit. We compete at tournaments consisting of 4 3-hour rounds over 2 days. During these rounds, each team is Plaintiff or Prosecution twice and Defense twice. Each team has 3 witnesses and completes opening and closing statements. Our program has 4 different teams, arranged by skill level and each with their own coaches. We spend our fall at invitational tournaments before attending Regionals and other AMTA-hosted tournaments in the spring. Our tryouts are held at the beginning of the year. We accept members of all experience levels, from those who have never done mock trial to those who did it all through high school.
The most obvious skill is public speaking. No matter your role on the team, you have to learn to not only speak clearly but also to speak in a way that captivates your audience and keeps them interested. Mock trial can get dull after a while! You have to learn to keep the judges wanting to listen to you. Mock trial is also great at building your ability to think on your feet. Whether that be during objection battles, dealing with a difficult opposing witness, or forgetting your memorized material, you build the skill to think quickly and adapt.
One of the most challenging parts is just building tough skin. I play rugby outside of mock and I like to say in rugby you’re getting physically tackled, but in mock you’re getting intellectually tackled. You’re going to mess up. A lot. But the only way you’re going to improve is if you keep doing it and persevering through those embarrassing or hard moments, responding to criticism, and keeping trying to get better.
The most rewarding aspect is easily the team. I’ve met some of my closest friends through mock trial. Mock trial can be tough with long competition weekends and practices taking up most of your evenings, but being with the right team and people makes it all worth it. Even better when you’re winning alongside them.
Mock trial is a good way to start learning about law and how it shows up in a courtroom. While it is “mock” for a reason — it is far more simple and dramatized than the real deal, mock trial teaches competitors the basics of courtroom procedure and etiquette, rules of evidence, presentation, examinations, and prepared speeches. We are lucky enough to have coaches who are real attorneys who are always a source of guidance and a resource for our future journeys in law.
The best way to make the most of mock trial is to become friends with your team. Whether you like it or not, you’re going to be with them a lot, from prepping witnesses and developing case theories to spending hours in the car together driving to tournaments. Some of my best college memories are from time spent with my team. At Drexel, we hold holiday parties and game nights, and this year we even started an intramural softball team together (the Motions to Strike). It’s easy to get wrapped up in competition and forget to have fun too.
I would definitely recommend reaching out to your school’s team and possibly shadowing practices or competitions. That way you can find out if this is something you really want to do and if the team would be a right fit for you. There are lots of organizations and teams to join in undergrad, so if you’re going to dedicate time to mock trial, you want to make sure it's a good fit for you! Be sure to ask lots of questions, about time commitment, practice schedule, and just program culture, because a lot of that can vary from program to program
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