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Mock Trial is an abbreviated form of the Standard/Traditional Mock Pre-Trial. Participants had the opportunity to experience key aspects of the courtroom trial experience without all the formalities of a traditional mock pre-trial hearing.
Participants had the opportunity to practice legal, analytical, and advocacy skills in a simulated courtroom while also experiencing courtroom procedure first-hand process and gaining an appreciation, fair trial, the rule of law, and legal ethics’ importance in the practice of law. The focus of the Virtual Asia Regional CLE Mock Pre-Trial Event is the development of these outcomes. As such, the Virtual Asia, Regional CLE Mock Pre-Trial Event structure, used for the event, does not strictly adhere to any particular legal jurisdiction but has been modeled to facilitate the development of CLE outcomes in a practical setting.
Generally speaking, a mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is like a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisting of volunteers as role players to test theories or experiment with each other. Mock trial is also an extracurricular program in which students participate in rehearsed trials to learn about the legal system competitively. Interscholastic mock trials occur on all levels, including primary school, middle school, high school, college, and law school. Mock trial is often taught in conjunction with a course in trial advocacy or takes place as an after-school enrichment activity. Some gifted and talented programs may also take place in one.
Moot court is a co-curricular activity at many law schools. Participants take part in simulated court or arbitration proceedings, usually involving drafting memorials or memoranda and participating in oral argument. In most countries, the phrase “moot court” may be shortened to simply “moot” or “mooting.” Participants are either referred to as “mooters” or, less conventionally, “mooties”.
Every year several national, regional, and international Moot courts & Mock trials are held worldwide. Some of them have decades of history. For example, the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, also known as the Jessup Moot or The Jessup, was established in1960, Washington D.C. (1968 for international rounds; no rounds in 2020) is the oldest and largest international moot competition in the world. In recent years, they have been attracting participants from almost 700 law schools in more than 90 countries (100 countries took part in 2018). In 2021 in its online competitions, 574 teams were present. The competition has been described as the most prestigious moot court competition globally by a large number of organizations and universities internationally and is one of the major moots.
One of the most inclusive, interactive, and well-structured regional Mock Pre-trial events has been organized by BABSEACLE in the Asia region as part of its Access to Justice Week in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
History of the Event
This Virtual event builds on similar in-person events that BABSEACLE has organized in the Asia region for many years, as part of BABSEACLE’s Access to Justice Week. Due to COVID-19, the event was changed to a virtual one, and it was an overwhelming success. It included not only the regional event but also 2-day national training workshops in different Asian countries.
This virtual event involved more than 250 law students from different countries in Asia. More than 50 legal sector experts assisted as trainers and judges over this two-month period.
Roya Institute is pleased that it is among supporting bodies for the virtual Asia Regional CLE Mock Pre-trial Hearing Event for the second year. The complete list of the supporters is available here.
More information is available here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock_trial