MOCK TRIAL

This upcoming 2023-24 academic year will mark the 25th anniversary of the Center for Law and Public Policy at WAU. In June, the Center received a significant donation from private and organization sources that will help fund the newly created Roy Branson Fellowships program. The Branson Fellowships will provide opportunities for Honors College students to intern/work directly with local and national civil rights and religious leaders on a variety of legal and public policy issues. Up to eight students per year will receive $5,000 per year stipends for this work.

Under Dr. Branson’s leadership, in 2000, the Center also established the largest pre-law program amongst Adventist institutions and the university’s first Mock Trial Team, connecting with practicing lawyers in the area to act as coaches and mentors to the students. Students who wanted to participate in Mock Trial first took a foundational course called American Judicial System — a course taught by a practicing attorney in the area. The team participated in mock trial events around the country, including a trial where they defeated the defending National Champions, the University of Maryland. The team was not allowed, however, to compete in the American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) tournaments because many trials occurred on Sabbath.

In 2014, with Director Joan Francis, they entered their first regional competition under the AMTA at the University of Richmond. The competition featured 20 other teams, such as the University of Richmond, Mt. St. Mary’s University, Penn State University, Harvard University and more. It was the first time an Adventist institution competed in AMTA, made possible by an allowance for religious exemption during the competitive trials on Saturday, setting the precedent for future competitions.

After a bit of a lull due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WAU’s Mock Trial Team rallied together in February this year for the regional tournament at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. There they

WHAT IS MOCK TRIAL?

Mock Trial is a competition in which students simulate a real trial. The trial concerns an official case prepared by the American Mock Trial Association that remains the same throughout the entire academic year. The case alternates between a civil and a criminal case every year.

The case is entirely fictional, taking place in the fictional state of Midlands. Teams consist of six to ten members, but only six compete at any given timethree attorneys and three witnesses. competed in the same region as other major schools, including Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, John Hopkins University and the University of Maryland.