By Kara Fellows

SMU’s Mock Trial team is gearing up for a new season with new members, new tournaments and new goals it hopes will take them all the way to Nationals.

“This year I really feel that our team has grown together and that we’re learning to work better with each other,” said junior Zhuo Zhao, VP of Tournaments. “I’m excited to practice and see how far we’ve come.”

Last year, the team made it all the way to the Open Round Championship Series in Memphis, TN before they were eliminated. The ORCS is the final step towards the National Tournament comprising of the top teams from each Regional Tournament. Only the top six teams from each ORCS is given a bid to the National Tournament in April.

Considering the team hasn’t won a tournament before 2012, the team’s current success is something that brings members an amazing amount of pride. Mock Trial President and SMU senior Sarah Smith has been on the team for three years and been able to see just how far the team has progressed.

“Seeing the successes that we have achieved is an extremely rewarding feeling because it allows us to see our hard work has paid off,” Smith said.

Founded in 2000, the SMU Mock Trial Program competes in up to five tournaments each year. The program is part of the SMU Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Department and comprises of about 20 student members, with applications and auditions in late August.

The members divide up into separate teams and are assigned specific roles either as attorneys or witnesses. They spend weeks researching and building a case. Once they get to a tournament, schools face off in real-life court simulations with judges comprised of practicing attorneys and current law students.

With the first tournament of the semester coming up on the last weekend of October, the season is just starting. But SMU junior Nancy Gracen Klein, a mock trial member for three years, says this is often the hardest part of the year. She said that it takes time to figure out the dynamics of the team and assign people to their best positions. Not to mention that members also have to familiarize themselves with the 120-page case.

“Later on in the season we will be able to tell you what line 122 of such and such’s affidavit says, what objection could be made to that line and what arguments against that objection battle could follow,” Klein said.

In addition to new tournaments on the schedule and a stronger focus on developing the characters of the witnesses, this year the team is making changes to their structure by splitting into two teams instead of three.

“This will allow us to better focus our time and resources on having two equally competitive and successful teams,” Smith said.

Beyond the success and the hard work, Mock Trial members say they come back every year for the community and the people. For Zhao, the biggest surprise of joining mock trial was how close she and her teammates became.

“Being successful together created a bond of friendship that would never have happened if we hadn’t done Mock Trial,” Zhao said.

Klein agrees that the team’s tight-knit friendship is a big part of the Mock Trial community and a necessary one.

“It’s a good thing we all like each other as much as we do, given the immense amount of time we spend together,” she said.

For
more information and to stay updated on all the events, check out SMU Mock
Trial on their website.