Mock-Trial FAQ

Q. What is Mock Trial?

Mock trial is an academic extracurricular where students take on the roles of attorneys, witnesses, or both in order to advocate for their side of the case. Attorneys will learn case law, procedural and evidentiary rules, and how to conduct witness examinations. Witnesses will learn how to advance their side's case theory while also portraying a convincing character on the stand.

Q. What is the cost?

Mock trial at BGSU is free to team members! We will do a number of fundraising opportunities throughout the year to fund our travel and registration fees.  

Q. How often does the team practice?
The team as a whole practices for 2 hours on Fridays 6-8 pm in Central Hall 111. Individual pairs of attorney/witness duos practice at other times, dependent on their level of dedication to the activity.

Practice amounts increase as we get closer to the Spring semester because the regional tournament will be taking place in February.

Q. How do I join the team?

You indicate via this interest form that you would like to participate in mock trial for that season.

You may also email any of the officers. After doing so, if tryouts have not already been held, you will be asked to schedule a tryout time.

Q. When are tryouts?

Every year around August 15, the American Mock Trial Association sends each team a case file that will be used that entire year as the basis for mock trial competitions.

During the first week few weeks of the fall semester, we will hold a series of informational meetings explaining what mock trial is and explain the tryout process.

Tryouts will take place early in the fall semester of each year and will be based on that case file--if you miss tryouts, don't worry! You are more than welcome to observe practices!

Q. How are tryouts formatted?

Everyone trying out will participate in all portions of the tryout process.

Tryouts consist of three parts:

1. Delivery of an opening statement-The memorized speech will be provided to you. You will be expected to deliver the opening statement noteless. 
2. Witness examinations-You can choose between three witnesses. Based on these witnesses affadavits you will be asked a series of questions as the witness you chose. Examinations are noteless.
3. Delivery of an extemperanoues speech-You will be given a prompt during your audition and have 5 minutes to craft a ~2 minutes speech related to the prompt. This speech will also be noteless.

Examples of past tryout packets can be found here.

Q. When does the Mock Trial season start and end?

The season begins immediately after we conclude our tryouts. The end depends on the success of the team. The earliest the season would be completed would be February 7, 2026. If we continue to qualify for higher levels on competition, we will be competing through April 2026.

Q. Do I need any prior experience?
No, but acting and public speaking experience is an asset. More than experience, you need to be coachable and available. In other words, we can help you be effective at mock trial, but you need to be willing to put in time and effort to learn.

Q. Do I need to be on a pre-law track?

NO!! Many witnesses are experts in various fields such as psychology, forensic pathology, even car appraisal-so we're happy to have members from all majors and career interests :)

Q. What roles can I take on?

You can choose to be an attorney, witness, or paralegal. A paralegal is an excellent choice if you do not want to take on the time commitment of a competing member but still want to help out and learn more about the organization. 

Q. How many are on a Mock Trial team?

The smallest possible team has 6 members, while the largest possible team is 10 members. Each side will have a total of 6 roles (3 witnesses and 3 attorneys), meaning that with a full team of 10 members two people must double. Doubling means that a person must take on one role on the defense side and one role on the prosecution side. Our hope is to expand to multiple teams. Per AMTA guidelines these teams will have to be ranked based on skill.