As the fall semester hits the half way mark, the two Morningside mock trial teams are gearing up for their first competition. Mockers start to compete as early as October, and the season could extend as far as May.
Mock trial is the reenactment of a case in a courtroom setting. Each team is composed of three witnesses and three attorneys, and the teams portray both defense and plaintiff. Mock trial is not only for political science and pre-law students. It’s a diverse activity to be part of. The teams at Morningside have majors from elementary education, history, pre-law, and theatre, among others.
“Throughout my experiences in mock trial, I have witnessed theatre majors portray accents, design costumes, and give life to the person they are supposed to be. I have also watched perspective lawyers, too nervous to talk in front of their friends, stand toe-to-toe with the best team in the state,” said sophomore elementary education major Liz Johnson. Johnson has been in mock trial since she was in high school and plans on becoming a lawyer in her future.
Johnson advocated that mock trial helped her, and others. “Mock trial doesn’t just help you become a lawyer, it helps you gain confidence and step out of your shell,” she said.
Amanda Heinrichs is a sophomore political science student and a first year mocker. “It’s been very interesting to be a first year mocker. We just had our first scrimmage and I can tell I’m going to love it! I have gained confidence and I’m actually doing better in another political science class because of it,” Heinrichs said.
Heinrichs, along with the other fourteen team members, have been working steadily from day one for the upcoming competing season. By their first competition, Heinrichs said that they will have done two scrimmages for preparation.
The Morningside team is led by Hinton lawyer Tara Vonnahme, and its Morningside representative and traveling coach, political science professor Lillian Lopez.
This year, collegiate mock trial teams throughout the entire nation will compete over a civil case. The case was written about a fictional accidental death of a spouse while a couple was on vacation. “It’s about an extremely dangerous scuba dive, where a diver had a medical condition, and the scuba diving company left her down in the water to die,” Johnson stated. The teams develop their cases to best suit their interests and goals and to best portray the witnesses they are calling to the stand.
“Now we have to decide if it’s the scuba diving company’s fault or the diver’s fault for failure to disclose information about her medical history,” Johnson said.
The upcoming competition, taking place at Hamline University in St. Paul, will be held over fall break. The team will compete in four rounds over the course of two days, performing both plaintiff and defense roles twice. The team will also compete several times around the midwest until regionals is held in March.
“Neither team knows what to expect at this point. I think once the first competition is under our belt, we can start being more competitive and all of the tension will fall away,” Johnson said.