Mock Trial Community Competition - Seeking Judges

Colleagues, 

During the recent Training Advocates Conference (“TAC”), there were frequent conversations about how many schools were not provided invitations to the Fall trial team tournaments and therefore have no competition options in the Fall semester. Of particular concern, some schools (such as our own) are invited to many competitions. Other schools, however, are invited to very few. While not universally the case, many of the non-invited schools are less well off financially and have student populations from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds in legal education. The inequality in learning opportunities across the law school advocacy spectrum is a cause for concern. 

Consequently, as a community of advocacy professors and coaches, we discussed how we can provide access to tournaments for schools that have only been accepted to one competition, or in some cases no competitions. 

As such, a group of ten schools have joined forces and are pleased to announce the creation of the Mock Trial Community Competition, which will take place virtually on November 10-12, 2023. Syracuse has taken the lead in organizing the competition and we are excited about the learning opportunity it will provide. To that end, The Mock Trial Community Competition is intended to create a competition experience for those schools with limited opportunities during the Fall 2023 semester. 

Each co-sponsoring school is looking to provide ten judges for the competition - and I kindly request that you consider volunteering to judge.  Again, the competition is held virtually and unless you request otherwise, you will be not be required to be the presiding judge. Each round should take around two hours. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the form at the link below. We truly hope this competition ensures that meaningful learning opportunities in trial advocacy are not reserved for the select few. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19I5mWB4066X3fnbwV8uQ0NY2NaELPXdynsl3TqKB5Us/edit

Thank you and please just let me know if you have any questions. Best, 

Todd A. Berger, Professor of Law / Director, Advocacy Programs, Syracuse University College of Law