You like success?

The success of the 2008-2009 season, in a nutshell:

  • 30 Individual Awards
  • 19 Team Trophies (out of 12 tournaments)
  • 17 Outstanding Attorney Awards
  • 13 Outstanding Witness Awards
  • 5 First Place Finishes
  • 4 Bids to Silver
  • 3 Spirit of AMTA Awards
  • 2 Bids to Gold
  • 1 Amazing Program

We're excited that you're interested in joining the Northwestern team! Whether you have Mock Trial experience or not, we welcome you to try out for the team. Our team members come from all of the undergraduate schools at Northwestern and from very diverse majors, so you needn't worry if you aren't planning to study law.

Here we'll give you answers to some frequently asked questions. If you have an interest in the team, the best thing to do is contact the executive board with your questions.

What would I do on the team? Students perform as lawyers or witnesses. As a lawyer, you will learn how to conduct a direct examination, respond to objections, how to argue in front of a judge, how to conduct a cross examination, and how to present opening statements and closing arguments to the court. As a witness, you will learn how to portray a character on the witness stand (many actors tend to enjoy being a witness), and how to give trouble to opposing lawyers during cross-examination. You will practice with the team twice (or more) a week, and travel to tournaments to help build on NU Mock Trial's winning reputation.

What would I get out of Mock Trial? Mock Trial provides a lot of merits: you'll improve your public speaking skills, you'll think critically and creatively about the law, morals, and logic, and you'll also learn how to craft a speech (not just how to present one). But most importantly, you'll meet a good bunch of people. While some schools focus a lot on the competition, neglecting the social face of Mock Trial, we don't hang out only at tournaments and practices.

What is the Time Commitment? We meet Sundays from 3-6 PM in Evanston and Wednesdays from 7-10 PM at the Northwestern Law School in Chicago. Outside of these twice-a-week practices, most members meet individually to go over more specific performances. Everybody also attends at least four tournaments a year, which means that on those tournament weekends, you will travel to another school. We typically leave on the Thursday or Friday of that weekend, and come back on Sunday night.

Can I join this year? Unfortunately, try-outs have already happened for the 2009-2010 school year, and our teams are set. There will be another set of try-outs next year, sometime in early September. (For the specific times and dates, check this website frequently, and look for us at the activities fair.) However, if you're ever interested in watching a scrimmage, or coming to a tournament this year, let us know. We are always happy to give information to potential teammates!

How can I find out more? Every year the team has two informational sessions in September. The informational sessions for the 2009-2010 school year have already taken place, so the best thing to do is contact us via e-mail.