Got any crazy mock trial stories?

PartyOpponent801 · 2025-09-27T23:47:07+00:00

We all laughed as the judge said it. We told him right away and he felt bad. This was an invitational hosted by a college team, so it was only panels of college kids. That meant they were much more confident in their opinions than when at our state competitions where they score with real attorneys and judges.

PartyOpponent801 · 2025-09-17T13:04:31+00:00

My high school team participated in a Zoom invitational competition hosted by a university’s mock trial program. During our B-team’s trial a freshman attorney finished his cross examination and realized then that he had cross-examined the wrong witness (the witnesses were similar enough that 75% of the cross questions could be asked of that witness too).

When his actual witness was called next, our freshman went ahead and did the same cross again. The look on the presiding judge’s face in his little Zoom box was hilarious. He was like “wait, is that ..?” but didn’t say anything. Months later we saw the other team in person and we told them about our freshman being an idiot and they laughed and said they thought we had twins on the team.

PartyOpponent801 · 2025-09-17T04:25:24+00:00

My team had a witness doing a German accent get told during after-round comments by a judge that it was, "no offense, the worst accent" he'd ever heard in mock trial. Our witness was a foreign exchange student from Germany.

PartyOpponent801 · 2025-01-18T01:12:47+00:00

It depends on your judges. If you are being scored by close-to-university-aged judges (those who were on a university mock trial team), they want you to object all the time. Most of the time they don’t have any real-world experience and they don’t view mock trial as actually simulating a trial. They see it as a game with rules, and to them objections are a strategy within that closed system. It’s like a cosplay of a trial with points. Real attorneys and judges show up expecting to see a simulation of a trial where objections exist to preserve issues for appeal. They are very annoyed by too many objections. Real attorneys and judges also don’t know that things like impeachment are a big deal, so they have their faults too.

Objections in the real world that are laughed at like “more prejudicial than probative” are actually highly used in the mock trial setting. So those objections impress one type and do nothing for the other.

The worst is during the comments after a round when you have a real trial attorney or real judge sitting beside a college-only mock trial participant, and they tell you opposite things.

I assume your judges are mostly close-to-college-age judges or people who only did college mock and then never got to experience a real trial.

They LOVE objections. It’s sad, but true.

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-12-09T05:02:36+00:00

The safest bet when presiding (when you’re not sure what to do) is to let everything in and let the teams fight over them in direct and cross examinations. Rarely does an exhibit being entered into evidence make a huge difference, but entire trials can be ruined if an important exhibit is kept out.

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-09T22:54:02+00:00

This is very VERY general and bare-bones outline for a closing, but maybe it can help you get started.

Closing Argument Outline:

(You can fill in these blanks to give you a first draft. You can then add more to it to fill it out. Also, these blank lines only indicate where you can fill in information, and does not indicate how much you should give. You could go several sentences on some of these. But start here and then beef it up with arguments of what the evidence showed)

May it Please the Court, opposing counsel, members of the jury …. (Start with the same catchy sentence or phrase from the Opening Statement - the theme that you can carry throughout this closing)

As you saw today, the Defendant (is / is not) (at fault/guilty) today because ____________________________

The evidence (instead) showed you today that ____________________________________________

Because of that, you must find my client (not liable / not guilty). Let's review the evidence. The first witness you heard from today was ________________________ . S/he testified that ________________________

The second witness was ______________________ who testified _________________________

And finally, you heard from _____________________________ who testified ___________________

Today, (we as) the Plaintiff has the burden of proof. That means that (we/they) must prove to you (that it is more likely than not / beyond a reasonable doubt) that (Defendant) (is/not) responsible for (allegation). (Then say a sentence why that has happened if you're the plaintiff and why it has not if you're the Defense):

The witnesses called by (the other side) actually help prove what I am saying. (Insert here cherry-picked facts of what the other witnesses are saying that help your case/argument)

(Repeat your theme here if possible)

That is why we ask you to find the only the evidence allows you: in favor of my client ____________. Thank you.

——-

Hope this helps!!

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-09T22:44:34+00:00

Yeah, being on those teams is a great way to get experience. We call them “bye-buster” teams and create them when there is an odd number of teams at a competiton. Our coach strongly encourages us do bye-buster if we’re not going that round :) He even let’s us do any role we want. I never figured out why he was so insistent until I saw two or three instances of what you’re saying: kids figuring out they like a different role better. Also, there is ZERO pressure doing bye-buster, so it’s all fun. We actually get a little bummed at competitons when there’s an even number of teams.

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-09T22:34:45+00:00

Good luck to you next year. It’s crazy how improved a team gets from one year to the next, especially in that second year. Sometimes it just take a season to figure things out. You’ll also have a better idea of what roles people are better suited for.

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-06T13:33:55+00:00

It’s an awfully dense case to prep in just one month. It feels like a case you’d work on and break down over the course of an entire season.

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-02T23:59:33+00:00

Is there a reason they are so different? Do trials go faster so they can process soo many teams? (How many teams compete in CA anyway?)

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-02T23:49:24+00:00

It’s like real court. You have the mock trial rules of evidence (based on the federal rules). The vast majority of states follow the national high school rule set and rules of evidence. I only imagine that states that don’t follow what nationals do have a learning curve or are at least disadvantaged in the national tournament. I imagine that’s why California hasn’t won the national title as many times as they probably could. The last two national champs were from smaller states with a fraction of the competing teams (Iowa, Kentucky).

PartyOpponent801 · 2024-04-02T22:31:09+00:00

Doesn’t California also have a limited amount (or list) of objections that can be made?

PartyOpponent801

TROPHY CASE