Mock Trial Competition Tests Students’ Courtroom Skills
Now in its third year, Upper School’s Mock Trial program fielded two student teams—the Panthers (above left) and Bobcats (above right)—in the 2019 St. Louis District competition. The teams, composed of three or four “lawyers” and three “witnesses,” were given a fictitious criminal case involving an unsolved murder. Each team engaged in at least two preliminary rounds (trials), representing the prosecution in one round and the defense in the other.
Trials were held at the St. Louis County Courthouse in Clayton, with a presiding judge and two or more evaluators/jurors. As in a real trial, the student-lawyers made opening statements, questioned and cross-examined the witnesses, made and responded to evidentiary objections, and presented closing arguments. Each of the lawyers and witnesses was scored on established criteria, and a winner was declared in each trial. Both individual and team points were counted in these preliminary rounds, which determined the rankings for advancing to Regionals.
Of the 58 St. Louis-area teams representing about 30 schools at Districts, 16 advanced to Regionals. Principia’s teams were not among the 16, but both the Panthers and Bobcats learned a great deal by competing.
The Upper School program was started just a few years ago when Social Studies Department Chair Don Sterrett, who coached high school mock trial teams in California, teamed up with faculty member Ted Bartelstone, a practicing attorney who teaches civil and criminal law.
Each year, the program begins with a fall semester class, taught by Bartelstone, during which students become familiar with the courtroom process and trial techniques. About halfway through the semester, students can commit to and be selected for a competition team. Then intensive evening and weekend practice gets underway as soon as students return from winter break. Principia’s General Counsel Lee Barron (US’72, C’76) also offers occasional coaching. (Between Barron and Bartelstone, the students benefit from nearly 75 years of combined legal experience!)
Once competitions start, students learn by doing—in the courtroom, in front of the judge. “As with most competitions, the students are sometimes apprehensive at first,” Bartelstone notes. “But once they begin, they come away exhilarated and excited!” And invariably, he adds, “I’ll hear a student comment, ‘So, that's what you meant by . . . .” As with life, so in court, experience is an apt instructor.