<p>Well we're inching closer and closer to the start of the school year (I know I can't wait to go back). I just wanted to see if there was any interest in joining the NYU mock trial team among CCers. Don't worry about whether you did it or not in high school, college mock trial is very different from high school and our best players often have no experience.</p>
<p>For those of you who don't know how mock trial works, it focuses around one pre-determined case (a closed case, so no need to hit the law library) for the entire year. There are 6 players per side (prosecution/plaintiff or defense are the sides) with 6-8 players per team. Teams are evenly split with three attorneys and three witnesses (for you Tischies out there, mock trial is a great way to put your acting chops to the competitive test!). Schools compete against each other throughout the year at invitational tournaments in preperation for Regionals in February and Nationals in March/April.</p>
<p>The teams are scored on presentation, NOT by who wins the verdict. Attorneys are scored on preperation, smoothness/style, knowledge of law, responses to objections, and controlling witnesses on cross. Witnesses are scored on believability, accuracy, knowledge of their facts, improv on cross, and presentation (entertaining!).</p>
<p>It's a ton of fun, a great way to meet and get close with people you'll know the rest of your time at college (something often hard to do at NYU). Also the university subsidizes our trips, which this year include Washington, D.C., Memphis, and Florida for the National Championship!</p>
<p>Tryouts will be in September. If you're interested in recieving more information, check out our website, <a href="http://www.nyumocktrial.com%5B/url%5D">www.nyumocktrial.com</a>. Enjoy the rest of summer!</p>
<p>i love Mock Trial. i did it four years in high school. how different is collegiate mock trial from high school</p>
<p>i tried to do it my senior year, but theatre prevented me from it...haha</p>
<p>Wow, sounds like a ton of fun.</p>
<p>EDIT: Can you describe the tryouts?</p>
<p>also, the variations of roles w/ witnesses...i checked out last year's "tryouts" thing, and there was only one girl witness, and she had to be a believable 16...</p>
<p>Wow, so much interest already! There are three main differences between collegiate and high school mock trial:</p>
<p>1) Level of competition - Much higher at the college level.
2) There are more witnesses to choose from and more witnesses available than will actually play in a round, so there are some strategy decisions as to which witnesses to call, backups in case witnesses get "stolen", etc.
3) No "outside the record" objection. If a witness makes something up or lies, the attorney has to impeach the witness using their affidavit to show their testimony is false.</p>
<p>Tryouts are pretty simple, they're described on the website. An attorney tryout consists of a rehearsed speech and a prepared argument. A witness tryouts consists of preparing a character role for oen of the witnesses in the case and basically acting through the role.</p>
<p>Lindsey, all the witnesses are "gender-neutral," they can be played by men or women. Even if your instinct tells you "this witness is a guy/girl" there are always ways to play a witness well regardless of gender.</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>do you miss any class due to travel/competition?</p>
<p>I would expect to miss one Thursday/Friday in the fall semester and two in the spring semester.</p>
<p>I'm interested. I will definatly try out.</p>
<p>I don't know...I think my studio teachers would kill me for even missing one day, let alone two or three....</p>
<p>Hmmm...I'd really like to try out, though...</p>
<p>I understand that it's harder to miss studio for Tischies than regular class, however, we've had many Tischies compete for us and it's normally not too much of a problem if they're only missing one Friday a semester. It depends on your studio/professor obviously, but it's been done.</p>
<p>The tryouts page has been updated to reflect the new case. You can get the information from our website.</p>