The Binghamton University Mock Trial Club advanced in the regional tournaments and is headed this weekend to the nationals in Kansas City, Mo. for the first time in its eight-year history.
“Mock trial is a competitive team that competes in several competitions each year,” said Josh Wurtzel, vice president of the Mock Trial Club. “Mock trial allows students to learn proper trial techniques, strategies, decorum and more by performing fake trials. Many of our members are interested in attending law school, but several of our members simply like to act [play a witness role] or speak in public.”
Karl Zysk, a senior philosophy, politics and law, and history double major, has been on the team since his sophomore year. He became president in the spring of 2008.
“What we do in Mock Trial is more or less what practicing attorneys have to go through when preparing a case for trial,” Zysk said. “Every year we get a hypothetical case packet, which includes a legal scenario, relevant law, witness affidavits, evidence exhibits and other materials.”
The Mock Trial Club has three teams, only two of which actually compete. The two teams have eight members while the third, a practice team, has only six. For each tournament, the team must plan material for both the plaintiff side as well as the defendant, and perform their argument in front of two judges. These judges give each player, whether attorney or witness, a one to 10 score based on both content and presentation.
Each aspect of the trial, such as opening statements, witness testimony and closing statements, are scored as well. Whichever team has more points at the end of the trial is the winner by unanimous vote of the judges. In this case the team gets two points (2-0) and the other team gets two points added to their “loss record” (0-2). If the judges disagree, the score becomes 1-1.
“The best record a team can have at the end of a tournament is 8-0, which is very difficult to attain,” Wurtzel said. “Our team received a 6-2 record at Invitationals at Yale last semester and received an honorable mention (fourth place in our division). At regionals at Syracuse, our 4-4 record squeaked us into nationals.”
If the BU Mock Trial team wins at nationals, then they will advance to the championship tournament, but there are still prizes awarded in any tournament to the best performers. Mock Trial team members Kelly Tomlin, Karl Zysk and Matt Goldstein have won individual performance awards at the tournaments.
Although no academic credit is given for participating in Mock Trial, it can be an invaluable asset to any law student, as well as theater students who want to hone their talent. That said, the team is working with a political science professor in Harpur College to institute a Mock Trial class for the 2010 spring semester.