Mock Trial 2012/13
- 2012-12-16
THE 2012/’13 CALL
A mock trial is a competition for students to participate in a role-playing game about a courtroom trial in which students can act as prosecutors and counsels. A mock trial is a simulation of an actual courtroom hearing.
The case
The mock trial is based on a hypothetical fact pattern called “The Case” attached to this Call. Every participating school receives the same case. The case is a criminal case, involving a controversy arising out of extortion.
The procedure
The procedure follows the American way of courtroom trials. In this tradition a body of laymen called the jury decides about guilt or innocence, after evaluating the facts presented during the trial. The procedure is primarily based on the presentations of the representatives of the parties called counsel. In a criminal case the plaintiff is the State who brings about a charge. The State is represented by the prosecuting attorney or simply prosecutor. The defendant is represented by an attorney at law. The role of the judge is to conduct the trial, but its role in examining and questioning witnesses is limited.
This year, the procedure will be much simpler than it was at the first time. There will be no jury and witnesses, the parties should argue with each other thus persuading the judges.
Teams
Every school may register with two teams. A team consists of four students where every participant has a role. Teams may be of two kinds: two of them form the plaintiff’s team and, consequently, two of them form the defendant’s team.
Roles
The role of a counsel is to effectively represent the interests of the plaintiff or the defendant. The counsel is the one who presents the arguments, examines the witnesses, and attempts to convince the judges that his/her party is correct. Every party is represented by two counsels, prosecutors or defending lawyers, accordingly.
The role of the judge is played by a scholar of the Faculty of Law. The judge leads the hearing and the mock trial. There will be a tribunal counsel of three judges to decide the case and evaluate the performance of the counsels.
Registration
Registration is by e-mail. There is no registration fee. The different roles are filled in the sequence of receiving registration. In order to register, the attached registration form has to be filled out, signed and sent as a scanned pdf file. The registration form has to bear the official stamp/seal of the registering school.
The number of hearings depends on the number of teams registering. Communication about all this will take place after the registration period has been closed.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE (time of receipt of registrations):
6 p.m. 7 January 2013
Request for clarifications
After the case has been studied and brain-storming starts, most teams will come up with questions of fact that they should know in order to build up their strategy. Questions of fact relating to the case can be submitted by e-mail until 6 p.m. 14 January 2013. Every team is allowed to submit two questions altogether. The questions (in anonymous form) and the answers given will be published on the Mock Trial web-site on 17 January 2013. The facts contained in the answers may be relied on and cited during the trial.
REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATIONS DEADLINE:
6 p.m. 14 January 2013
Introduction of new facts and expert opinion
Only the facts contained in the case and in the answers to clarifications may be referred to. The teams are, however, free to make any conclusions from the facts they consider appropriate, for so long as those conclusions are not alleged as facts rather than assumptions based on facts.
Furthermore, every team is allowed to prepare one single piece of written expert testimony or other like written evidence (written exhibits), introduce it during the oral hearings and rely on its contents during the oral hearings. The contents of the new written exhibits may however not contradict already existing facts. They may only relate to events outside the scope of the fact pattern, and it is the duty of the counsel to persuade the judges that it has any relevance to the case.
Schedule of the hearings (maximum duration noted)
Opening instructions by the judge – 10 minutes
Opening speech by Counsel for Plaintiff no. 1 – 10 minutes
Closing statement by Plaintiff’s Counsel No.2 - 5 minutes
Opening speech by Counsel for Defendant no.1 – 10 minutes
Closing statement by Defendant’s Counsel No.2 - 5 minutes
Cross examinations of the parties – 10-20 minutes
Questions of the judge – during the whole trial
Final decision
Judge closes session
Awards and evaluation
Awards will be given in four categories:
|
|
1st prize |
2nd prize |
3rd prize |
|
Best Prosecutors (team prize) |
Book token in value of HUF 8.000.- |
Book token in value of HUF 7.000.- |
Book token in value of HUF 6.000.- |
|
Best Defense Counsel (team prize) |
Book token in value of HUF 8.000.- |
Book token in value of HUF 7.000 |
Book token in value of HUF 6.000 |
|
Miskolc Faculty of Law Stipend Holder (individual prize) |
Grant of HUF 100.000.- for the first semester of studies |
|
|
|
Highest Scoring School (community prize) |
Cup |
|
|
Second and third community prizes will be awarded with certificates.
The first three of the awards will be granted to the individuals who score the highest in their category. Only one first, second and third prize will be awarded, irrespective of the number of hearings held.
The Miskolc Faculty of Law Stipend Holder Prize goes to the participant who scored the highest of those who will be admitted to legal studies on the Faculty of Law, provided that they are either holders of one of the other three individual prizes, or gained at least half of the points of the lowest score of any of the three individual prize holders. In case more participants are admitted to the Faculty of Law with the same score reached on the Mock Trial Competition, the stipend will be split between them.
The community prize goes to the school whose individuals gained the most points altogether.
Scoring is by the attending Faculty members, who will evaluate the performance of every participant according to the following criteria:
|
Maximum points (of 100) |
Prosecutor |
Defending Lawyer |
|
Content of presentation |
20 |
20 |
|
Understanding of position |
5 |
5 |
|
Full coverage of facts |
10 |
10 |
|
Style |
10 |
10 |
|
Proper language use |
15 |
15 |
|
Clarity |
10 |
10 |
|
Responsiveness |
5 |
15 |
|
Thoughtfulness |
10 |
5 |
|
Persuasiveness |
10 |
5 |
|
Pronunciation |
5 |
5 |
|
Making up new facts or distorting existing facts |
10 |
10 |
Oral hearings
THE ORAL HEARINGS WILL BE HELD ON THE FOLLOWING DATE:
7 February 2013
Oral hearings will be held at the Faculty of Law of the University of Miskolc. The venue of the oral rounds is the “Mintatárgyaló” and the Library of the Faculty of Law. All participating teams will register for the oral hearings from 8.30 till 9.00 A.M. in the Aula at the Main Entrance of the University, where a MISKOLC FACULTY OF LAW MOCK TRIAL desk will be waiting for the participants. Between 9.00 and 9.30 Participants will be taken to the Mintatárgyaló and to the Library by the organizers. Teams may be accompanied by their teachers or other representatives of their school or relatives or friends. However, since the size of the venues of the hearings is limited, the number of accompanying persons will be announced in advance.
The oral hearings start with a welcome speech and instructions at 9.30. There will be 2 hearings in the morning and two in the afternoon, as well. The first hearing will start ten minutes after the pairings are announced. Each team will plead once (both the prosecutor and the defence counsel of each school against the opposite side of a different school’s team).
After the morning hearings a lunch-break of 60 minutes will be introduced. Teams are free to purchase lunch in the University canteen. The afternoon hearings start at 13.00.
After the last hearing deliberations for the evaluation of the individual and team performances will take place and last for an hour. During that time, the Dean of the Faculty and students of the Faculty of Law will be available for consultation on legal studies on the Faculty of Law and university life in Miskolc, in general. Team members will also have a chance to look around at the University.
The Mock Trial will come to completion by the announcement of the results and the award of the prizes. The Miskolc Faculty of Law Stipend Holder prize will be awarded only after the admissions to the Faculty of Law have been completed.
All prizes will be published on the Mock Trial web-site.
Communication
All communications are via e-mail to the e-mail address joggodfa@uni-miskolc.hu
The web-site of the mock trial is http://www.jogikar.uni-miskolc.hu/mocktrial2013
In particular, the case for the Mock Trial, the rules of procedure and practical instructions for all students participating in the game will be available from the web-site.
Vissza