T he Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition run by the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the Pennsylvania Bar Association is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. The continuing success of the mock trial competition is dependent upon the participation of members of the Pennsylvania bar. If you have not participated in the past, perhaps this article will help convince you that offering your time and expertise will be a worthwhile experience for you as a way to advance your litigation skills while at the same time giving back by mentoring the next generation of potential lawyers. Mentor the next generation of lawyers and improve your own litigation skills By Daniel E. Cummins The Benefits of Participation in the Mock Trial Competition
Transcript
The Statewide High School Mock Trial Competition run by
the Young Lawyers Division (YLD) of the Pennsylvania Bar
Association is one of the largest of its kind in the United
States. The continuing success of the mock trial competition
is dependent upon the participation of members of the
Pennsylvania bar. If you have not participated in the past,
perhaps this article will help convince you that offering your
time and expertise will be a worthwhile experience for you as a way to advance
your litigation skills while at the same time giving back by mentoring the next
generation of potential lawyers.
The Pennsylvania Lawyer 50 January/February 2018
Mentor the next generation of lawyersand improve your own litigation skillsBy Daniel E. Cummins
The Benefits of Participation in theMock Trial Competition
The mock trial competition provides thousands of high school students fromacross the commonwealth with oppor-tunities to play the roles of attorneys andwitnesses in civil or criminal trial settings before a judge and a panel of jurors. Lawyers assist students as attorneyadvisors, as judges to preside over the trials and as jurors who score the com-peting teams.
Prevailing teams in Pennsylvania advancethrough district competitions, onto re-gional trials and finally to a March Mad-ness-like state finals tournament. The highschool team winning the state competition
goes on to compete for the National HighSchool Mock Trial Championship title. The dedicated high school students in-volved in the mock trial competition spend hours and hours preparing for eachtrial. Some of these students will somedaybecome members of the Pennsylvania BarAssociation.
In addition to being a truly rewarding experience gained by helping others, participation in mock trial also serves tohelp attorneys improve their own litigation skills and courtroom presence through observation of a simulated trial from theperspective of the jury box.
A Great Opportunity to TeachThe mock trial competition provideslawyers and judges with a great opportu-nity to interact with the public outside of a litigation setting and to teach studentsabout the inner workings of the court system in a trial setting.
After each mock trial, the judge and attor-ney-jurors often introduce themselves, in-dicate what type of law they practice andthen provide feedback to the students ontheir performance in an effort to assistthem in their next competition. Such inter-action with the public shows a desire onthe part of the bar to encourage potentialfuture members of the bar and generallysheds a favorable light on the practice oflaw and lawyers.
Perhaps the most rewarding position for alawyer in the mock trial program is that ofattorney advisor. Typically each high schoolhas a teacher who serves as the manager ofthat school’s mock trial team and one ormore local attorneys who serve as coachesor attorney advisors. Under the mock trialrules, attorney advisors are encouraged toguide the students in their creation of cohesive opening statements, focused
direct-examinations of witnesses, pointedcross-examinations and closing argumentsthat bring the case home for the team.
An attorney-advisor may offer a couple ofhours in the late afternoon after school afew days a week assisting the student-attor-neys in crafting their questions and argu-ments. Some attorneys team up to sharecoaching duties and thereby limit the smallamount of time required out of the office.
You Can be a JudgeMock trial teams love it when they com-pete in front of an actual state or federaltrial court or appellate court judge. Mem-bers of the bench have been generous anddedicated participants in the mock trialcompetition over the years. They have al-lowed for arguments back and forth onvarious objections the student-attorneysmay raise during the direct- and cross-examination of witnesses before gently ruling in favor of one party or the other.
Given the number of competitions in somesettings, there are sometimes opportunitiesfor members of the bar to serve as judgesfor local mock trial competitions. If youever wanted to know what it was like to bea judge or to view a trial from high on thebench, the mock trial competition providesan excellent opportunity for you to do so.
The Unique Perspective of a JurorThe greatest need for bar member involve-ment in the mock trial competition is forjurors to sit in the jury box for the trials.Attorneys serving as jurors evaluate andscore the competing teams as opposed torendering any verdict on the merits of thecase. Jurors are always needed to score trialsat the district, regional and state levels ofthe competition.
Perhaps those members who have not previously participated in the mock trialcompetition may be more apt to do sowith the knowledge that the competitionshave strict timing guidelines enforced byofficial timekeepers. In the mock trial for-mat, each team of three student-lawyers
Offering your time and expertise is a way to advanceyour litigation skills while at the same time givingback by mentoring the next generation of potentiallawyers.
The Pennsylvania Lawyer 52 January/February 2018
There are sometimesopportunities for mem-bers of the bar to serveas judges for local mocktrial competitions.
gets to present three witnesses, one of whomis usually the expert witness. This format,along with the strict enforcement of thetiming restraints, serves to limit the overalltime required of the lawyer-jurors to ap-proximately two and a half hours per trial.
Participation as a juror in the mock trialcompetition is a rewarding learning experi-ence that allows practicing attorneys toview the presentation of a case from theunique perspective of the jury box. Seeinga trial play out from the jury box is a newand enlightening experience in and of
itself. Watching two student-attorneys ar-guing an objection back and forth and in-teracting with the judge or following alongwith a direct- or cross-examination is edu-cational on what works and what does notwork. Seeing a great opening statement ora compelling closing argument can give at-torneys sitting as jurors a new perspectiveon the presentation of their own openingsand closings.
Time to Consider CLE CreditParticipation as a juror in the mock trialprogram is so educational that, arguably,the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Educa-tion Board ought to allow for at least a sin-gle substantive CLE credit per year for theattorney’s participation. A lawyer activelyparticipating as a juror in a mock trial set-ting can surely learn as much as he or shewould sitting through an ordinary CLEseminar. An attorney-juror will be re-minded of trial skills, proper courtroomprocedure and customs, and that conciseand coherent five-minute-long openingstatements and closing arguments can bevery effective. The attorney-juror will ob-serve strategies for presenting witnesses,raising or opposing evidentiary objectionsand interacting with the judge. The ability
• Pennsylvania’s mock trial program is in its 35th year• Schools participating in the 2017 competition: 252• Teams participating in the 2017 Statewide High School mock Trial competition: 293• attorneys helping with the 2017 competition: more than 300
• Beaver county’s Quigley catholic High School placed second in the national High School mock Trial championship in 2002.
• The Pennsylvania Bar Foundation provides funding support for the statewide competition.
• Find information about how to get involved in the PBa yLD Statewide High School mock Trial competition on the PBa website at www.pabar.org or contact PBa yLD coordinator maria engles at [email protected].
PennSyLvania’S mOck TriaL FACTS
Strict enforcement of thetiming restraints servesto limit the overall timerequired of lawyer-jurors.
to earn a substantive CLE credit wouldserve as a great incentive to increase attor-ney participation for the benefit of the ex-cellent Mock Trial Competition Program.
Will You Help?Please give participating in the Mock TrialCompetition one way or another a try thisyear. You won’t regret this rewarding expe-rience. The hope is that you will enjoy theoverall experience such that you will bewilling to serve as an advisor, judge or juroragain and again.
By participating in the mock trial competi-tion, you may even improve your own liti-gating skills by witnessing a trial from theviewpoint of a juror.
Providing your expertise, feedback and encouragement to young individuals willultimately show potential future membersof the bar, as well as the community atlarge, that the current members of thePennsylvania bar are a welcoming and collegial group, dedicated to the practice of law and committed to mentoring thenext generation of lawyers. ⚖
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Daniel E. Cummins is a partner in theScranton insurance defense firm ofFoley, Comerford & Cummins. Heserves as an attorney advisor for theAbington Heights High School MockTrial Team in Clarks Summit and hasalso served as a mock trial juror onmany occasions.
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