For aspiring attorneys, Mock Trial amounts to learning by doing
The competitions are part of what makes MSU Denver students sought after by law schools.
Forced to choose between rat poison and banana extract, the Metropolitan State University of Denver Mock Trial team went with the banana-based murder weapon.
The choice must have worked: Arguing a civil case to determine who would get the estate of a rich victim of an alleged murder, MSU Denver’s two Mock Trial teams posted a stellar season. Several student “attorneys” won individual awards, and one of the teams earned an invitation to the Mock Trial Opening Round Championship Series in Los Angeles in March, said Jeremy J. Castle, Ph.D., associate professor of Political Science and coordinator of the University’s prelaw program.
Not bad for a team that’s existed only since 2021.
When Castle joined MSU Denver in 2020, “We didn’t have Mock Trial and other opportunities within the program,” he said, “and I just felt we could serve students better.”
Five years later, the prelaw program overall appears to be serving students well. Recent prelaw and Mock Trial alumni are studying at Washington University St. Louis, the University of Denver and the University of Arizona. Current Mock Trial team members are weighing offers from the universities of Denver, Colorado and Marquette, among others. And Faith Deason, this year’s president of the MSU Denver Mock Trial Association, is choosing between four offers, two of which include full-tuition scholarships.
The right mix of comprehensive classes, knowledgeable advising and dedicated students is part of that success equation. Mock Trial, too, provides great preparation, Castle said. “In college classes, we’ve got quizzes and papers — the point is to get students to think. In Mock Trial, you’re thinking all the time. You’re figuring out ‘How do I respond to something else the other team is doing?’ and you’re doing that in real time.”
In a Mock Trial competition, a team from one university squares off against another to conduct a trial — civil or criminal — with students acting as attorneys and witnesses.
Teams receive the facts of the case at the beginning of the competition season. In this year’s civil case, those facts included information that the dead man suffered from kidney disease — which made banana extract’s high potassium level fatal. Teams can be asked to argue either the plaintiff’s or the defendant’s case, typically with only a few minutes’ notice. And having variables – like how the victim died means there is always an element of surprise for one of the teams and assures that every team has to prepare for every possible argument.
Volunteers, usually practicing attorneys or judges, evaluate the competitors and rule on objections.
“There’s no hiding behind AI,” Castle said. “You can’t fake your way through this.”
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Through participation, students learn rules of evidence, court procedures, how to craft a persuasive argument and, potentially, how to cross-examine a hostile witness without coming off like a jerk.
At a tournament in Colorado Springs this year, the MSU Denver team took that “moment’s notice” thing to the extreme. When a team member became too ill to participate, another member had to jump in and, with just minutes to prepare, deliver an opening argument in her place, Castle said.
The result is a package of skills that come in handy “not only in law school but any career you could have under the sun,” Castle said.
Nevertheless, all but one of the 26 students who were part of last fall’s Trial Advocacy Lab — the class that serves as an incubator for Mock Trial teams — were aspiring law students, Castle said. The class has grown enough that MSU Denver fielded two teams this year.
He is amazed and inspired by the talent and dedication of his students, many of whom are nontraditional, first-generation or both.
Despite disparate backgrounds, the teams have formed a close community, Castle said, with alumni coming back to coach current members and graduates leaning on each other in law school.
Which is not to say there are no disagreements. “But at the end of the day,” he said, “we have to come together. We’re a team with a common mission.”
Learn about Pre-Law Advising at MSU Denver.
