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Government professor Mark Miller explores what some people have interpreted as an increase judicial activism in Canadian and European courts. His work with students includes mentoring Clark's Mock Trial team, and helping students like Dan Bresette pursue their own research projects. |
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Meet the participants:
Commitment pays—the Mock Trial Program
Interview with Professor Mark Miller and Kayla Carlsen, Dunyelle Rosen, and Kayur Shah
A talented amateur golfer stopped to talk to a driver whose pulled-over car he had nearly sideswiped. An argument ensued, and the driver, a former mental patient previously diagnosed with intermittent explosive disorder, assaulted the golfer with a tire iron. The golfer sued the former mental patient's hospital, claiming that the patient had been released prematurely.
The above lawsuit was the focus of intensive study by Clark's three Mock Trial teams during the 2004-2005 academic year. Since the early 1990s, Clark has fielded one or more teams each year to compete in the Mock Trial Tournaments sponsored by the American Mock Trial Association. This year, seniors Kayla Carlsen, Dunyelle Rosen, and Kayur Shah each captained one of the three Clark teams that won a place at the 2005 National Mock Trial Tournament, an extremely competitive, annual event that gives college undergraduates from across the United States an opportunity to demonstrate through role-playing their understanding of the legal process.
In a recent conversation, summarized below, law and society professor Mark Miller outlined the Mock Trial Program, and Carlsen, Rosen, and Shah discussed what participation has meant to them.
Mark, could you describe the Mock Trial Program?
Participation in the Mock Trial Program is sponsored by Clark's interdisciplinary law and society concentration. The program is a way for students to learn about the law, not just in the classroom, but in action. Teams of students study a single legal case intensively over the course of an academic year, prepare both sides of the case, and act out that case with team members assuming the roles of attorneys and witnesses. At the tournaments, teams from different colleges compete against each other. Panels of real attorneys and judges decide which teams and individuals made the best presentations.
Involvement in the program is open to any student from any major. There are no prerequisites. Participating students earn one course credit for each year they participate in the Mock Trial Program.
A student begins by enrolling in Law and Society 38, a trial advocacy class offered each fall semester and taught in 2004-05 by Massachusetts Superior Court judge Timothy Hillman. Judge Hillman also served as the mentor and coach for the Mock Trial teams. In 2005-06, Steven Kennedy '88, a practicing litigator will teach the class and coach the Mock Trial teams.
Once a student has successfully completed Law and Society 38, he or she is eligible to be selected as a Mock Trial team member by the team's coach. Team members usually attend an invitational tournament during the fall, which is frequently held at Yale University. During the spring semester, course veterans have an opportunity to participate in three-day regional, and then, we hope, national trial. This spring the New England Regional Tournament was held here at Clark and the National Tournament in St. Petersburg, Florida.
I should also mention the level of competition. Our team holds its own against some very competitive schools. At the regional tournament there were teams from Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Boston University, Boston College, Holy Cross, and the University of New Hampshire. At the national tournament, our teams competed against UCLA, Ohio State, and a perennial power in Mock Trial, Washburn University. Our teams are very, very good at competing with the best of the best, and we expect no less.
Who chooses the legal case that the students will work on?
Early in the fall semester of each academic year the American Mock Trial Association issues a standard case for all Mock Trial teams in the country. The Association adds modifications to the case as the year progresses. Then, between the regional and national tournaments, some major modifications to the case are introduced, including the addition of new witnesses.
What is the role of the team's coach?
Mark: The coach meets with the students twice a week while they're preparing for trial. Then, a couple weeks before the regional event, the meetings increase to three or four a week. His role is to help students learn what they need to know about being a professional lawyer. Clark is very lucky to have had a superior court judge who was willing and able to devote time to these students. The judge serves as coach, teacher, mentor, and friend. He helps the students understand exactly what they need to do to improve. The judge does not write their scripts or do their work. He just critiques them.
Dunyelle: We're very lucky to have Judge Hillman. We know that, and I think he knows we know that. As such he demands a high level of performance and dedication.
Before something gets submitted to him for review, the captains will have decided which team members they think the judge should evaluate. Then he lets us know what areas need work. He demands a high level of performance and dedication. By the time we submit a paper to him, it's already been reviewed by us multiple times and may be a fifth or sixth draft. It's been improved and critiqued already.
Dunyelle, congratulations on receiving a Best Witness Award at this year's national tournament. What is your major, and how did you get involved with the Mock Trial Program?
I'm a government major with a concentration in law and society. I've been participating in Mock Trial for three years. I took the trial advocacy class during the first semester of my sophomore year. That year, the Clark team went to both the regional and national tournaments, and I've been participating ever since. The first year I was an attorney, last year I played a proctologist, and this year I was an attorney for the plaintiff, in addition to playing the doctor who was chief of staff of the hospital being sued by the injured golfer.
I'm planning to go to law school when I graduate, so the Mock Trial Program has been a great tool for helping me think about law school. The program helps you understand what it would really be like to be in a courtroom and what case preparation is like. I always find myself thinking about how much time we all spend on just one case. We start work in October, and we're still going in March, working intensively on the same case. The program is very demanding, especially during the second semester when we're preparing for the actual trial. We work three or four nights a week for hours. It's a commitment. You know early on who's going to be up for it and who's not. The process shed a lot of light on what would be like if you had multiple cases going on at the same time, and if you didn't have two other co-counsel members helping out.
It sounds like a tremendous amount of organization is required.
Dunyelle: Yes, and as captain, it's challenging. You have to assign roles and tell people what they'd be best at. You're responsible for everyone's roles and responsible for making sure that everyone's doing what they need to.
Kayla, you won a Best Attorney Award at this year's national tournament. How did you get involved?
I'm an art history major, but I took the trial advocacy course at the beginning of my sophomore year because I was thinking about going to law school. I was a team member that year and played an attorney and a witness. This year I've been serving as a team captain.
As Dunyelle said, when you're a captain you have to learn to delegate authority. People don't always like you as much as you'd like them to. You have to keep everyone happy, and it's really difficult. I found I was helping everyone else with their roles, so much so that when it came to my own role, I didn't feel as prepared as I probably should have. This year I was an attorney both on the plaintiff's and the defendant's side. So that's a lot of juggling. But the Mock Trial Program is really helpful for public speaking, and for being able to think on your feet.
Kayur, how did you get interested in the program, and what roles have you played?
I'm a senior psychology major, with a minor in government and a concentration in law and society. I got involved with the Mock Trial Program my junior year. That year I won an award for best witness for the role I played. This year I've been a team captain, and during the regional and national tournaments I was a lawyer for the plaintiff. Mock Trial has provided a learning experience that I will never forget, and it's helped me decide to go to law school.
As Mock Trial participants, what do you get from this kind of experience that you wouldn't get in a classroom setting?
Dunyelle: Doing Mock Trial gets you involved and you get a hands on sense of what it's like to actually experience these things. You can't get that from just sitting in a classroom. I think that part of what makes Mock Trial so interesting is that people do get so involved and that you're creating relationships--making friendships even. As such you have a commitment not only to yourself and how you're doing, but also to your team as a whole. There's no way you could experience this without actively taking part. That's why people have a hard time understanding the commitment that people in Mock Trial give. I'm sure all of our friends can't imagine how for three, four or five nights a week you're with all of these people from Mock Trial for hours. It's a commitment that you've made.
Kayla: I think that participating in Mock Trial allows you to experience things that you wouldn't in a classroom. In a classroom you could sit in the back of the room and perhaps never be noticed, whereas in Mock Trial you really have to stand up and make your presence known. There's a lot of speaking in front of the whole class. You have to get very comfortable with the people you're working with, and you become very close with them. You also meet people you might not have otherwise. A lot of the students that participate in Mock Trial are government majors, and, being an art history major, I might not have gotten to know them. Mock Trial is very life consuming-it sort of takes over everything. I've probably learned more from taking this program, because by actually taking on a role, it becomes a part of you, as opposed to just reading a book.
Kayur: We get a tremendous amount of feedback from the actual tournaments. There are real judges and real attorneys judging our trial. They give you real feedback, not just on how you perform, and whether you know the case, but on how you present yourself. One thing that we learned this year is that where you are determines how you should dress. At the national tournament in Florida we got so much criticism about the way we dressed!
Dunyelle: We women were all wearing pantsuits and were told that, had we gone to court in Florida, the judge would have told us that we should be wearing jackets and skirts!
Mark: Participants learn about regional differences in professional expectations. They also have to adjust to pace of speech and style of presentation, because style in Boston and New York is very different from elsewhere in the country. So the students had to make some adjustments when they went to the national tournament, and think about things that they probably would not have normally.
Did participation in Mock Trial affect the way you approached any of your other classes?
Dunyelle: Participation in Mock Trial has helped me be able to speak extemporaneously on a subject. If I'm in a class and have to give feedback on reading that I've done, or on a comment that someone has made, I find myself more able to speak on my feet, to formulate my thoughts while I'm saying them. For me that's been critical.
I do think this helps a lot of people. They gain confidence. You're able to watch people when they start at regionals versus the day before we actually go to trial. You see people whose body language when they began was completely closed; they looked down at their papers the whole time. Over time you see them evolve into self-assured speakers who are able to stand in front of a room of people and advocate. We had a few people on the team this year who improved a lot.
Kayur: During my freshman and sophomore years I had no idea what time management was. I'd always wait until the last minute to get work done. Participation in Mock Trial has helped me out so much. Now I get my work done before it needs to be done. Also, I used to be very quiet in class and now in some of my classes I talk much more than I used to.
Kayla: I agree. Freshman year I was very nervous giving presentations in class and speaking in front of people in new surroundings. Since participating in the Mock Trial Program, I have no problem standing up in front of a class and talking. I started using legal terms in my writing and speech that I probably would have never used before. I've probably learned more from taking this class than I have in a lot of my other classes, because by actually taking on a role, it becomes a part of you, as opposed to just reading a book. Also, being a team captain, I've had to learn time management and organizational skills. It helped me get a better feel for what it's like to assume responsibility in the real world.
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Additional Resources
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Competing with the best of the best.