Course Information for PLS/COM 290/390 for academic year 2004-2005.
For all the newcomers – welcome to Mock Trial. For all of the returning
members, welcome back.
The coaches are Dr. Craig Curtis, Associate Professor of Political Science
and Mr. Scott Paulsen, a local attorney with extensive courtroom experience
in both civil and criminal cases. Dr. Curtis can be reached at 677-2492
or via e-mail at rcc@bradley.edu. His office is located on the 4th
floor of Bradley Hall , room 429. Professor Paulsen can be reached
at his law offices at 676-1381, or via e-mail at scotthawki@aol.com.
Regular class sessions will be held from 7 to 9 pm on Tuesday nights in Bradley
Hall room 116. In addition, there will be an intensive seminar on Friday
evening and Saturday during the day on the weekend of September 24 and 25.
Once team assignments are made, the teams will need to set up a time for
regularly scheduled team meetings to work out the details of team strategy
and roles. The coaches do not normally attend those sessions unless
requested by the team in question, although Dr. Curtis can help with getting
room reservations if needed.
The case this year is a civil case – which means that we will have to learn
about the issues of liability and damages. As we move through our early
preparation, we will work to develop lawyering and acting skills in all of
you. Everyone will practice developing character and playing witnesses.
Everyone will practice preparing and delivering direct examinations, cross
examination, opening statements and closing arguments. Everyone will
be expected to comport themselves in a professional manner at all times during
the season.
Professional deportment is one of the key lessons to be learned in mock trial.
Both coaches will expect that mock trial students will not treat this like
any other class. Rather, this is an opportunity to learn from a real
attorney (Professor Paulsen) how legal work is done in the real world.
A professional attorney does not miss a meeting (cut class, or a team meeting)
because they just don’t feel like coming. If they are sick, they call
ahead to make arrangements to reschedule or to conduct the business assigned
in another way. A professional attorney doesn’t put off case preparation
until the week before trial (many attorneys do cram for cases, but the good
ones do not rely solely on cramming). A professional attorney does
not show up for work unprepared. A professional attorney always treats
everyone in the courtroom with courtesy and respect.
The year will be divided into 3 phases: 1) early preparation
and skill development – until seminar in late September; 2) case preparation
and participation in invitational tournaments, early October to Thanksgiving
(we will shut down before Thanksgiving break); and, 3) Spring competition,
including an invitational, the regional, and, hopefully, nationals.
At the end of September, we will hold an intensive seminar wherein we will
get specialized information relevant to the case and develop a team theme
of the case. Tentative team selections will be made by the coaches
after the seminar.
Team assignments will be made by the coaches this year, after observation
of team members in their classroom work. We will take two teams to
regionals and, hopefully, to nationals. We will strive to make sure
that everyone participates in at least one invitational tournament.
In making our choices, we will take into account effort, skill, experience,
ability to work with others, results in invitational tournaments, and coachability
(the willingness to listen to what we say and attempt to carry out those
instructions).
For those taking course credit, grades will be based on overall case preparation
and effort. Team members who are not selected to compete in the Regional
tournament are still eligible for an “A” in the course in the Fall.
One third of the grade will be based on quality of participation in the class
sessions (that means attendance and preparation count!), one third of the
grade will be based on our evaluation of case preparation, as measured in
a take home assignment similar to the one we used last year in lieu of a
trial notebook. That assignment will be due before the first invitational
tournament. The last third of the grade will come from participation
in invitational tournaments. We will look at the ballots and assign
credit based on our estimation of potential. For example, an experienced
attorney with two or more years of experience who is marked down on the ballots
for missing objections, being unprepared to argue objections, and poor construction
of arguments, directs, or opening statements will receive a poor score for
this third of the course. Obviously, a new attorney who makes these
mistakes will not be evaluated so severely. For another example, a
witness with experience who gets 5’s and 6s from the judges, because they
did not create a believable character, broke down on cross, or invented facts,
will not score well for this phase of the grade.
Course grades in the Spring semester will based on effort and preparation
for the late January invitational (most likely at Loras College) and the
regional. We will look at ballots for evidence that students are prepared
for competition. We will take note of who is present and participating
in the class sessions.
It is expected that all participants in Mock Trial will prepare for the entire
case. That means that everyone will prepare a case notebook on their
own, without borrowing directs, crosses, openings and closings from others.
We will provide a model for you to follow in preparing your case notebook.
Those who wish to submit their trial notebook in lieu of the take home assignment
may do so. Our experiences from last year, and from years past, have
convinced us that errors occur in every trial because individuals only know
part of the case.
The classes will be conducted a bit differently this year. We will
make an assignment for each week. We will incorporate some lecture,
especially at the beginning, but we want to do more hands-on stuff in the
last hour of class each week. In the past, efforts to do so have been
handicapped because students rarely came to class prepared, and because class
attendance has been low. You will be required to check your e-mail
regularly, as the assignments for a week may be made via e-mail rather than
by announcement in the last class.
Everyone should check the AMTA web site for tournament dates, etc.
We will not be hosting a regional this year due to the construction in Bradley
Hall. This means that I do not know when and where our regional will
be yet. We will firm up dates for tournaments in the Fall and the Spring
as soon as we can. If you have obligations to a Greek organization,
please remember that this is an academic activity while Greek organizations
are social in nature. Trying to tell the coaches that you need some
special dispensation because a tournament conflicts with an activity at your
sorority or fraternity will not generate sympathy from us, or from AMTA officials.
While there are no books assigned for this class, students are encouraged
to acquire a copy of either Thomas Mauet’s Fundamentals of Trial Techniques,
commonly used in law schools (available through Amazon.com for as little
as $25, used. It is $55 new), or .Mauet’s Trial Techniques (Coursebook
series) (available for about $55 new).
This activity, while sponsored by the school, is not well funded in the regular
budget. Dr. Curtis and Dean Etaugh have tried very hard to correct
this problem, but it remains a problem. Some of you will need to help
out by driving your own cars to tournaments, and all of you will need to
pay some of the costs of travel – i.e., at a minimum you will need to feed
yourselves while we are participating in tournaments.
We hope for a successful year in Mock Trial, one in which we all learn something
new and one in which we have team success.