One of the largest in the nation, the PBA/YLD Mock Trial Competition gives over 290 high school student teams from across the state the opportunity to act as lawyers and witnesses in simulated civil trials before actual judges and panels of juries. Lawyers volunteer to assist students as team advisors, scorekeepers and regional coordinators. Each year, the winning team goes on to represent Pennsylvania in the national competition.

ATTENTION!

The Mock Trial Executive Committee would like to give you advance notice of the following change to the 2011 Pennsylvania high school mock trial competition format:

For 2011 and beyond, each team will present THREE witnesses instead of TWO, such that for every trial, a team will consist of 6 members - 3 attorneys and 3 witnesses.

The primary reasons for this change are:

• To accommodate the boom in student participation over the last decade;
• To provide the case writer(s) with the flexibility to create more realistic witnesses and case materials; and
• To bring Pennsylvania's competition into conformity with the national competition format. The vast majority of state mock trial competitions from around the country (40 states) use three witnesses per side, whereas only one other state uses the two-witness format. Three states use a four-witness format.

Because we are adding an additional witness on each side, we will be shortening each witness statement such that the overall size of the case materials will remain similar to past years. In addition, the length of the trials will increase only slightly. The total additional increase in trial presentation time will be only 10 minutes per trial. (As proposed, each team will be allotted 5 minutes each for opening and closing statements and 26 minutes for witness examination. Thus, total case presentation time will increase from 31 minutes to 36 minutes per side, or from 62 to 72 minutes per trial.)

We will keep you notified of all these changes within the coming weeks as we finalize our Rules.

Thank you in advance for your participation in the 2011 Competition.

2011 Mock Trial Competition brochure
2011 Competition Schedule
2011 School Registration Form
2011 Coordinator's List
2011 Participating Schools

1. Case Materials
2. Supplement to Case Materials
3. Rules of Competition
4. Rules of Evidence (PA Mock Trial Version)
5. Conflict Dates Form
6. Trial Roster Form
7. Code of Ethical Conduct
8. Hints for Preparing for the Competition
9. Teaching Tips
10. Guidelines for Attorney Advisors
11. Guidelines for Presiding Judges
12. Guidelines for Jurors (Scoring Judges)
13. Scoresheet
14. Philadelphia Rules of Competition
15. National Mock Trial Newsletter
16. Practicum for New Teams
17. Tournaments

If you have any questions about the 2011 Mock Trial Competition, please contact PBA/YLD Coordinator Maria Engles at 1-800-932-0311 ext. 2223 or maria.engles@pabar.org.

To view past case materials click here.