What Is the Trial Team?
The Trial Team at ASU Law is a student organization that competes in mock trials against other law schools. The Trial Team provides students with a unique opportunity to gain trial experience in a controlled, fictional setting without passing the bar.
Mock trial is distinct from moot court. Moot court simulates an appellate argument before a presiding judge. In contrast, mock trial mimics full length jury trials. We prepare and argue the plaintiff and defense in both civil and criminal trials.
Who Can Join?
The Trial Team has two types of team members: competitive and non-competitive. We hold auditions for competitive positions in May. Auditionees will analyze a previous tournament’s fact pattern and prepare a ten-minute closing argument for the plaintiff or defense. Our coach selects competitive members from auditions to represent the Trial Team in external tournaments.
However, any student can be a non-competitive member. Non-competitive members can be 1Ls, 2Ls or 3Ls who have not auditioned or want to prepare for the following year’s audition cycle. This is a great opportunity to attend practices, learn about trial advocacy, and meet the team.
Practice Schedule
Every summer, we attend a thorough “mock trial boot camp” with bi-weekly practices to teach the art of trial advocacy to new members. Members will learn how to argue the rules of evidence, navigate courtroom procedures, write opening statements and closing arguments, perform direct and cross-examinations and create case theories to persuade a jury. During the school year, we host practices every week in order to collaborate and bond with our teammates, compete in internal scrimmages, and receive feedback from our coach. This prepares the team for the fall and spring competitions.
Tournaments
The Trial Team attends four competitions every school year, two per semester. Since school policy prohibits any student from competing in more than one external moot court or mock trial tournament per semester, we assign two different groups of competing members to each tournament. During fall semester, the Trial Team competes in the All-Star National Challenge and CACJ’s National Criminal Trial Advocacy Competition. During spring semester, the Trial Team competes in TYLA’s National Trial Competition and AAJ’s Student Trial Advocacy Competition. Each tournament allows students the chance to advance to a final round or a national championship. Our goal is to advance as far as possible in every tournament we compete in.
Learn More
If you want to receive email notifications about the Trial Team’s upcoming events, please contact our email address: Trialteam.atasu@gmail.com.
