(Yes, we like alliteration!)

At this time of the year, our goal is always the same: reflecting on the prior season and brainstorming ways to make the Empire experience more educational and enjoyable for our students. Part of that process includes carefully considering the feedback that we receive from our competitors, coaches, and judges. We want to figure what worked well for our participants and what didn’t.

In this edition of On The Record, we’ll highlight the 2018 rule changes along with their rationale. You can find a summary of all major Empire rules on this page of our site.  

(1) REQUIRED NUMBER OF ATTORNEYS PER SIDE

You might recall that for most of our history, each team was required to field exactly three lawyers. But with the addition of the PEA in 2016, we required four lawyers to compete for each squad in each round. Why the change? Inclusivity. Like with many of our initiatives, we hoped to provide more students with the opportunity to participate in an Empire Mock Trial competition; here, we hoped to offer an additional attorney roster spot to a student. 

For 2018, we’re presenting coaches and captains with a new option: you can decide whether to field a squad of 3 or 4 lawyers. 

Inclusivity is still fundamental to us. We considered, however, that the average Empire team size well exceeds 7 students; some schools find it challenging to allocate examinations to attorneys in the manner that we prescribed; and the (slightly) larger roster requirement can place an undue financial burden on some schools. We feel that the 2018 rule balances the organization’s desire for inclusivity while taking into account these factors. 

With greater choice comes a new strategic decision for teams to face. If you field 3 attorneys, then each will be required to give one direct, one cross and one speech (opening, closing or pre-trial). Alternatively, if you field 4 attorneys, then the 2017 rules apply—meaning you’ll have to divide your examinations evenly across your lawyers.

Don’t know or don’t remember the 2017 rules? Don’t worry! Everything is listed on our site. Click on this page, scroll down to 6 or 7 students per trial, and click on Assigning Roles to Attorneys. (Yes, we could have included the rules here, but we are using this as a way to get you to look at our site!)

(2) MORE EXPANSIVE PRE-TRIAL ORAL ARGUMENT (“POA”)

This year, we are broadening the scope of the POA to challenge our competitors (and ourselves!) to tackle a wider array of arguments. Like what? We could select a more traditional pre-trial motion (such as a motion for summary judgment or motion to dismiss). We could also select a thornier Constitutional issue that is related to the case, but that does not involve a case exhibit. We are still leaving open the possibility that the pre-trial issue will involve a case exhibit, it’s just no longer a requirement of the oral argument exercise.

The mechanics of the POA will be the same as the previous years’ PEAs with one exception: the judge may not immediately issue a ruling. For example, if a judge granted a party’s motion to dismiss, then the mock trial would not be necessary!

Interested in learning more about the POA? You know where to turn.

Online Resource
If you’re new to the Empire Family, and the idea of an oral argument seems scary, please don’t let it intimidate!  Be sure to watch our video that highlights some of the best practices for oral arguments.

(3) STREAMLINED GUEST WITNESS (“GW”) ROLE 

The Guest Witness is BACK for its second full year!

The GW program creates a type of collaborative experience among students from different schools that is unparalleled in the mock trial universe. In just two years, we’ve seen countless friendships formed between students who met while preparing their Guest Witness directs for trial.  

If you are new to the Empire Family, then please stop right here. Head on over to our site, read up on the Guest Witness program, and then come back to this article!

Last year, we implemented a rule prohibiting teams from having the same student play the same GW role in more than one trial (i.e. student Johnny Smith couldn’t play Meg James in Round 1 and 3). This was done for two reasons:

  1. To ensure that we could easily pair GWs to trials while keeping the GW assignments “power-paired” (i.e. the top-ranked round in one division receives the top-ranked GWs from the opposite divisions); and
  2. To make GW pairing simple by eliminating all conflicts (e.g. if Sally is the plaintiff Guest Witness in round 1, then we need to make sure that she isn’t paired in a subsequent round with either the team that directed her or crossed her previously).

Last year, many of you expressed reservations about the challenges that this new rule posed, and we understand: it made configuring your rosters hard. After hearing your feedback, and working through some of the pairing challenges over many long conversations (and even longer nights), we are pleased to announce that we have updated the GW rules! Here they are: 

  • The same student can now play the same GW role in more than one trial (i.e. Sally can compete as the prosecution GW in two rounds);
  • The same student cannot GW on the prosecution AND defense (i.e. Sally can compete as the prosecution GW but NOT the defense GW); and
  • The same student attorney MAY direct the GW on both sides of the case.

These new changes are possible, in large part, because of the hard work of Empire alumnus, Viran Weerasekera (Barker College, Empire SF ‘15), who has designed an algorithm to handle GW assignments. We are so fortunate to have such generous, brilliant and hard-working alumni working with us.

If you have any questions about the new GW rules, please do not hesitate to contact us! We are always available. Just shoot an e-mail to admin@empiremocktrial.org.

Thank you for joining us again! Check back with us next week to see what presents itself next On The Record.

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Applications for the 2018 season are OPEN! Learn about the above rule changes and more at our APPLY page. We hope to see you this fall!