Trial Competition Home Page

Maurer School of Law Trial Tournament -- Spring 2013

Contact Prof. Tanford: tanford@indiana.edu

Last updated 1/26/13

INTRODUCTION

The law school holds an annual trial competition at the start of the spring semester. It is open to all 2L and 3L students, whether or not they have taken Trial Advocacy, although having completed Trial Advocacy is obviously an advantage. The tournament is set for January 18-19 (first round) and January 25-27 (second round & finals). Students will be given a civil case file and will be assigned to try the case on behalf of either the plaintiff or defendant. There will be two preliminary rounds followed by a single elimination playoff that produces a law school champion. Four to ten students will be selected based on their performance in the tournament to represent IU in the external AAJ Student Trial Advocacy competition, which takes place in Louisville March 1-3, 2013.

The competition is coordinated by the Student Trial Advocacy Board that operates under the general guidance of the Moot Court Board. For questions, contact Nate Harter or Kyle Morrison.

SCHEDULE

1. No later than January 9, notify Prof. Tanford by email to tanford@indiana.edu that you intend to participate and whether you would also like to be considered for the external AAJ Trial Team.

2. Materials. You will need the following:

(a) The case file, Groat v. Steelton State University, which may be downloaded here. The first 17 pages are the rules of the AAJ competition. The substantive case file begins on page 20. The rules of the AAJ competition do not apply to the law school tournament.

(b) A trial advocacy book. Those who have already taken Trial Advocacy, whichever one you used in that course is fine. Review the chapters on opening statement, direct examination, cross-examination, objections and closing argument. Those who have NOT taken Trial Advocacy (this includes those of you signed up for Trial Ad for spring 2013), download " Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Trial Procedure and Tactics ." Read the whole thing.

(d) Additional readings:
... 1) Making and Meeting Objections
... 2) The 20 Basic Principles of Trial Advocacy
... 3) Developing a good case theory
... 4) How to introduce and use a blow-up of an exhibit
... 5) A form to use when impeaching a witness for a prior inconsistent statement
... 6) A digest of cases on the propriety of closing arguments
... 7) How to respond to objections during opening statement and closing argument

3. ASSIGNMENT: You should prepare the entire case for your side -- opening statement, two directs, two crosses, and closing argument. You may prepare in groups or by yourself, but you do not have an official partner. In each round of the law school tournament, you will be asked to do three segments -- either opening or closing, one direct and one cross. However, over the course of the tournament, you can expect that you will be asked to do all six segments. You will usually be assigned a temporary partner for each round, but that assignment may change in subsequent rounds.

Plaintiff

Robin Bannister

Alex Block

Jessica Brierly-Snowden

Adam Doerr

David Frazee

Nate Harter

Rajat Khanna

Charles Shaw

Eric Silvestri

Patrick Thomas

Jeremy Votaw

Justin Yarnell

Defendant

Caleb Bean

Jared Chester

Tim Conroy

Anne Fishbeck

Alaina Hobbs

Kiely Keesler

Brenton Martell

Lauren Mehrtens

Kyle Morrison

Nedu Nweze

Jonathan Turpin

4. TOURNAMENT ROUND 1 -- Saturday January 19.

9:00, room 214. PL: Votaw & Thomas. Wit: Khanna J: Silvestri.

DF: Chester & _______ Wit: Martell J: Bean

9:00, room 215. PL: Shaw & Frazee . Wit: Doerr J: Harter

DF: Keesler & Turpin. Wit. Hobbs J: Morrison

9:00, room 216 PL: Bannister & Block Wit: Yarnell J: Brierly-S

DF: Fishbeck & Conroy Wit: MehrtensJ: Nweze

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1:00, room 214. PL: Harter & Brierly-Snow Wit: Frazee J: Thomas

DF: Mehrtens & Nweze Wit: Turpin J: Fishbeck

1:00, room 215. PL: Yarnell & Doerr. Wit: Banniste J: Votaw

DF: Martell & Hobbs. Wit: Conroy J: Chester

1:00, room 216. PL: Silvestri & Khanna Wit: Shaw. J: Block

DF: Bean & Morrison Wit: Keesler. J:

1. The first-listed plaintiff does opening statement, the direct of the expert Ellis, and the cross of Johns. The second listed plaintiff does closing argument, the direct of Groat, and the cross of the expert Nutting. If only one person is listed, s/he will do opening, both direct examinations (you will get credit for whichever receives the higher score) and cross of Johns.

2. The first-listed defendant does opening statement, the cross of Groat, and the direct of the expert Nutting. The second listed defendant does closing argument, the cross of the expert Ellis, and the direct of Johns. If only one person is listed, s/he will do opening, both direct examinations (you will get credit for whichever receives the higher score) and cross of Groat.

3. For each trial, one person is listed as a witness for plaintiff and one for defendant. This person will play both witness roles for that side. The students assigned to do the direct examination may arrange with that person to practice those examinations prior to trial. The witnesses will also serve as jurors for opening and closing. Anyone without a witness assignment will be asked to serve as a juror for one trial.

5. TOURNAMENT ROUND 2 -- Saturday January 26.

9:00, room 214. PL: Thomas & Harter Wit: Frazee J:

DF: Morrison & Fishbeck Wit: Bean J: Conroy

9:00, room 215. PL: Khanna & Bannister Wit: Yarnell J: Votaw

DF: Hobbs & Mehrtens Wit: Turpin J:

9:00, room 216. PL: Doerr & Shaw Wit: Silvestri J: Block

DF: _______ & Keesler Wit: Martell J: Chester

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1:30, room 214. PL: Block & Yarnell Wit: Khanna J: Thomas

DF: Turpin & Chester Wit: Mehrten J:

1:30, room 215. PL: Brierly-Snow & Silvestri Wit: Shaw J: Harter

DF: _______ & Bean Wit: Keesler J: Morrison

1:30, room 216. PL: Frazee & Votaw Wit: Doerr J: Bannister

DF: Conroy & Martell Wit: Hobbs J: Fishbeck

5:30, room 213. Announcement of semifinalists

1. The first-listed plaintiff does opening statement, the direct of the expert Ellis, and the cross of Johns. The second listed plaintiff does closing argument, the direct of Groat, and the cross of the expert Nutting. If only one person is listed, s/he will do closing argument, both direct examinations (you will get credit for whichever receives the higher score) and the cross of Nutting.

2. The first-listed defendant does opening statement, the cross of Groat, and the direct of the expert Nutting. The second listed defendant does closing argument, the cross of the expert Ellis, and the direct of Johns. If only one person is listed, s/he will do closing argument, both direct examinations (you will get credit for whichever receives the higher score) and cross of Ellis.

6. TOURNAMENT FINALS -- January 27.

9:00, room 214. Semi final.
Harter and Block v. Turpin and Conroy

wits: Bannister, Thomas, Fishbeck

9:00, room 215. Semi final.

Brierly-Snowden and Silvestri v. Hobbs and Mehrtens

wits: Votaw, Frazee, Keesler, Martell,

9:00, room 216. Semi-final.

Doerr and Khanna v. Chester and Morrison

Wits: Shaw, Bean

1:30, room 214. Finals
Eric Silvestri and Nate Harter vs. Lauren Mehrtens and Jared Chester

2013 Law School Champion:

7. January 28. National team and alternates selected. You must have an AAJ student membership to compete. It's $15. Go to this link .

8. January 29 - March 1. National team practices under supervision of Prof. Tanford and coach Patrick Schrems.

9. March 8-10: AAJ Student Trial Advocacy Competition. Lousiville, KY.

Additional materials that might be useful:
... Handling evasive witnesses
... Impeaching a witness on cross who "forgets" facts favorable to your side
... How to impeach a witness who makes up facts (for purposes of the trial competition)