All Rise
Mock Trial Team at Clark makes a case for excellence
By Jane Salerno Photos by Rob Carlin
All are winners in mock trial, according to the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) motto, and students on the Mock Trial team at Clark have earned the right to be called winners.
In late February, Clark undergraduates participated in the New England Regional Intercollegiate Mock Trial Competition held on campus. More than 150 undergraduates, dozens of legal professionals, and friends and family members came to Clark for the weekend event.
Clark competed against teams from Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Harvard, George Washington University, MIT, University of New Hampshire, Tufts, Wellesley and Syracuse. Clark tied for fifth place. George Washington University was the overall winner and Harvard took second place.
Jacob Siler ’06 and Eric Miller ’06 each received Outstanding Attorney Awards. Siler received the Outstanding Attorney Award at the 10th-Annual Yale University Invitational Mock Trial competition last December. Miller garnered an Outstanding Witness Award at a Yale meet in 2003.
“It’s huge on your confidence,” Siler told a newspaper reporter from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, during the competition. “It’s great being able to stand and deliver in front of a courtroom.”
Clark has hosted the regional competition and its teams have qualified for national competition in eight of the past nine years. The team also received a bid to the national tournament this year and traveled to Stetson Law School in St. Petersburg, Fla., for the tournament held March 9 through 12. In 2005, Clark won the Spirit of AMTA Award for best sportsmanship at the regional tournament and later traveled to the national tournament in Florida.
What is mock trial? The undergraduate program originated with Richard M. Calkins in 1985 while he was the dean of Drake University Law School. According to the AMTA Web site, mock trial was designed to “give undergraduate students an opportunity to learn first hand about the work of trial attorneys, understand the judicial system, develop critical thinking and enhance communication skills.”
At Clark, students take a course on trial advocacy in the fall semester and then participate on the Mock Trial team during the spring semester. Students are asked to prepare the prosecution and defense of a case—based each year on an actual trial—that is presented to all teams. This year’s case involved a kidnapping. In competition, team members role-play as lawyers and witnesses and are judged on their persuasiveness and ability to analyze arguments. Teams don’t know until the day of competition whether they will be representing the defense or prosecution so they have to be prepared for both. Mock Trial at Clark is part of the University’s academic concentration in law and society and is open to any student, not just those planning to attend law school.
“It has been a crucial experience for me,” Clark psychology major Rebecca Chernin ’06 told the Telegram & Gazette. “I’ve made great friends and gained practical experience in being prepared.”
Coaching the team Senior Trial Attorney Steven C. Kennedy ’88 teaches Trial Advocacy and coaches the team. Kennedy took over the position from Massachusetts Superior Court Judge Timothy Hillman. Kennedy currently practices with his law firm in Concord, Mass., concentrating in civil litigation. He is also an instructor in Clark’s College of Professional and Continuing Education.
While guiding his students during an evening class, Kennedy expressed admiration for the bright, hardworking team members. “They perform better than some lawyers on the job.” He carefully advised as they painstakingly examined affidavits, depositions, witnesses and pages of evidence. “Never ask a question that you don’t know the answer to,” he reminded a would-be cross-examiner. He offered another rule of the trade: “You can’t win a case on your closing argument, but you can lose it.”
Kennedy did not select particular roles for each student to play during the mock trial exercise. He said they worked together very well dividing up the tasks and workload. “I have seen students offer suggestions to each other and work very hard to tackle the challenges of preparing for mock trial.”
The regional tournament at Clark is supported by the student Prelaw Society, the Mock Trial Team, the Career Services office, the Dean of the College, and the Government and International Relations Department.
“The program is a way for students to learn about the law, not just in the classroom, but in action,” says Government Department Chair Mark Miller. “It helps students learn to think on their feet and to understand how trial lawyers approach their jobs.”
Learn more about Mock Trial at Clark online at www.clarku.edu/departments/prelaw/mocktrial.cfm.
|
