The American Mock Trial Association

Mock Trial is an intercollegiate competition among schools who are members of the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA), founded in 1985. Today, over 230 schools nationwide, some of which have as many as five teams, are members of AMTA. Member schools include nationally prominent institutions such as Harvard, Howard, Michigan, Princeton, Stanford, UCLA, University of Chicago, and University of Maryland, as well as Bellarmine, Creighton, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State, University of Cincinnati, University of Dayton, Ohio Northern, and Rhodes College, just to name a very few.

Cases and Rules

At the beginning of each year, teams are given a fictional legal case, complete with witness affidavits and applicable case law. Mock Trial uses the Federal Rules of Evidence. The case can be either criminal or civil, alternating each year. This variation gives students insights into two different fields of law. As with any legal case, there is a prosecution (or, in a civil case, a plaintiff) and a defense. Students from one member school represent one side and compete against students from another school who present the opposing side. In competition, teams represent both the plaintiff and defendant in successive rounds.

Trial Structure and Procedure

Opening Statements. Every trial begins with an opening statement from each side. Opening statements serve as road maps for the judge and jury; they detail the information to be provided by each of the witnesses who will testify.

Case-in-chief. Each side then presents a case-in-chief (plaintiff or prosecution first) in which three witnesses testify. The witness testimony is elicited through a question/answer sequence between the examining attorney and the witness. All testimony is governed by the Rules of Evidence; if an objection is raised, testimony that is speculative, irrelevant, prejudicial, based on hearsay, etc. may be ruled inadmissible by the presiding judge. During the case-in-chief, opposing counsel has the opportunity to cross examine witnesses in order to damage their credibility or minimize the impact of their testimony thereby helping to prove their own case by disproving the opposing side’s case. The prosecution (or plaintiff) always bears the burden of proof—it is their responsibility to prove their case to the court. The defense must defend against the allegations of the plaintiff in their case-in-chief.

Closing arguments. To conclude a trial, attorneys from each side give closing arguments, in which they summarize the evidence presented and use it to argue their case. Only evidence that has been brought forth in the trial may be used to support closing arguments; evidence that has been stricken from the record will not be considered by the judge.

Scoring

Mock Trial is not won or lost based on the merits of the case—whether or not the prosecution (plaintiff) meets its burden—but on how well the student participants perform and how clearly they articulate their case theory through witness testimony. Undergirding this policy is the realization that the facts in each case are slanted in some way, whether toward the defense or prosecution (plaintiff), thus making it easier for that side to win on the merits of the case. To avoid potential bias, the students’ performances, not the overall outcome of the case, are the basis for determining the winner. Each participant is scored on a 1-10 basis, with a score of 10 describing a student who functions “like an experienced attorney” or for a witness who give a “convincing performance, effectively advancing the case.” These scores assess the effectiveness of each student presentation—opening statements, each direct examination, each cross examination, each witness performance on direct and cross examination, and closing arguments-- before the court. The participants are scored by two judges (often trial lawyers or judges). Each judge is given a ballot, on which a total of 14 functions for each team are evaluated. Then, scores on the ballots are tabulated, and the team scoring more points is awarded that ballot. At the end of a four-round tournament, eight ballots have been scored for each team. A team’s record is determined by how many ballots they have been awarded.

Tournament Competition

Most tournaments consist of four rounds of competition. After the first round, teams will have a record based on whether they have won, lost, or tied the two judges’ ballots from that round. All mock trial competition is power-paired, which means that teams are paired for the following round based upon their record from previous round; teams with similar records meet. Teams compete voluntarily in invitational competitions and scrimmages throughout the fall and early winter in anticipation of the regional qualifying tournaments in February. In these tournaments, the very top teams (normally the top three or four from a field of approximately twenty-twenty-five) then qualify for the sixty-four squad national championship competition held in Des Moines in early April. No college or university may field more than four teams at the regional tournament and not more than two squads from the same college or university may qualify for the national tournament.

Awards and Honors

At the end of a tournament, awards are given based on team and individual performances throughout the tournament. Team awards are based strictly on a team’s record at the end of a tournament. In the case of a tie, a tie-breaking procedure, which looks at such variables as strength of wins and losses, is employed. Individual awards are given to outstanding witnesses and attorneys. To earn an individual award ordinarily one must earn at least 16 points. Points are awarded based on where an individual finishes; five points are given for first on the bottom of the ballot, three points for second, and one point for a third place finish. Scores for performance on prosecution (plaintiff) and defense are kept separate. These points are then added to arrive at a score for each individual. A score of 20, a perfect score, would reflect four first-place finishes at the bottom of the ballot as a witness or an attorney for one side. Participants who exceed the minimum point score needed for an award are recognized as all-tournament attorneys or witnesses. In national tournament competition, the awards are given All-American similar to those awarded in college athletics.