SCHOOLS GUIDE Logistics. Magistrates Court Mock Trial Competition. HM Courts & Tribunals Service

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1 Magistrates Court Mock Trial Competition SCHOOLS GUIDE Logistics Sponsored by Working with HM Courts & Tribunals Service Organised in partnership with The Citizenship Foundation is grateful for the financial support it receives from the Law Society

2 Magistrates Court Mock Trial Competition October 2014 Welcome to this year s competition. We have received over 300 entries from schools across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Schools Guide has two parts; this part Schools Guide- Logistics contains useful information about how to prepare a team, the timeline of events, and how the performances will be judged. The other guide Schools Guide- Workshop Resources contains teacher workshop resources on how to prepare the different aspects of the case. You will also require other resources which may be downloaded from the website (see pages 9-10 for further details). These resources include: the specially written criminal case and individual student role guides. There will also be video resources available in the next couple of weeks to complement your preparations. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Katrina Rolinson, Mock Trials Project Officer at mcmt@citizenshipfoundation.org.uk or on Best wishes, Katrina and Sufiya the Mock Trial Competitions team. The Citizenship Foundation is a charity (no ) that was set up in We inspire people to take part in society as equal members of it. We help them learn how to do so effectively by teaching them citizenship skills. In particular, we help young people to understand how the law, politics and public life affect them. To do this we: promote civic participation; help schools and colleges to deliver citizenship education; work with young people on issues that concern them. The Magistrates' Court Mock Trial Competition is organised in partnership with the Magistrates' Association and sponsored by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service (an executive agency of the Ministry of Justice) and the Jomati Foundation. Cover illustration by Heidi Kressel (St Gregory s Catholic High School), winner of the Court Artist Competition Citi Citizenship Foundation

3 Section one Contents Essential information for Schools Introduction What the competition does 3 How the competition works Timetable for the day 3 4 Teams 4 Key rules and the scoring system 5 Court Reporter and Court Artist Competitions 6 Preparation for the competition 7 Time required 7 Support for teachers 7 The local organiser s role 7 Regional heats and national final 8 Withdrawals 8 Using the website preparation resources 9 Preparation timetable 11 How to select your team 14 What role can your students play? 15 Which role suits you? Quiz 16 Which role suits you? Answer key 17 Team list Team Selection Case Studies from schools The court layout Order of procedure Court Etiquette Judging 24 Judging criteria 25 The scoring system 28 Example score sheet 30 Judging sheet 31 Feedback forms 32 Citi Citizenship Foundation

4 Introduction Around 95 per cent of criminal cases (over one million per year) are dealt with by magistrates, yet very few people know enough about the vital role they play in the justice system. Now in its twentieth year, the competition connects 6,000 students with roughly 800 magistrates and other legal professionals annually. The competition is an example of citizenship education, designed to help students understand what it means to belong to communities, to understand the language of morality, of rights and of responsibilities towards others. Citizenship education fosters respect for the law, justice and democracy as well as opinions, values and cultures that may differ from our own. What the competition does Helps young people to develop their understanding of criminal law, the criminal justice system and how courts work in a fun and innovative way; Builds bridges between citizens, our legal institutions, magistrates and legal professionals; Provides a rewarding and challenging experience for all students regardless of their ability or personal background; Develops young people s skills in a range of areas including listening, reasoning, public speaking, confidence and the ability to think on their feet. How the competition works Step 1: Teachers advertise the competition within the school to recruit students to take part. At this time the lead teachers should also recruit other members of staff, teachers, or older students to help prepare the team. If insufficient numbers are recruited by the withdrawal deadline, teams should consider withdrawing from the competition at this time. Speak to the Project Officer for details. Step 2: Hold auditions or a meeting to select students for the team. Guidance on this can be found later in this guide. Try to get reserve students to act as understudies if you are able to. After reading through the Schools Guide, decide if you would like to allocate roles straight away or wait until later in the preparations. Step 3: Set up meeting dates and times with the students to try and begin preparing before the Christmas break. In mid-november, you will receive your local heat details including the date and location of your heat, and the contact details of your local organiser. Please ensure that you keep in contact with your local organiser to receive all of the details you will need about the heat, and to arrange court and magistrate school visits if you have requested these on your form. Step 4: Start running preparation sessions with the workshop resources. The first few will give your team a comprehensive overview of the legal system, as well as an introduction to the competition, the different roles, and the judging system. If you have not already allocated the roles, do so now and give each student their individual student role guide. Step 5: Using the workshop resources and other information contained within this Schools Guide and individual role guides, conduct a guided analysis of the case and get students familiar with their roles during your set preparation sessions. We recommend holding around 15 one-hour preparation sessions with the students using the guidance provided. Step 6: Confirm details of your local heat with your local organiser, and ask them any questions that directly relate to the day of the event. Any questions about the preparation materials or the case should be directed to the Project Officer. Step 7: Attend local heat! Citi Citizenship Foundation

5 Timetable for the day The following is an example of the timetable for the day at local heats. Please note that this may differ from heat to heat. 09:15-09:45 Teams arrive 09:45-10:00 Welcome and housekeeping matters 10:00-11:15 Round 1 11:15-11:30 Break 11:30-12:45 Round 2 12:45-13:00 Break (while the scores are checked) 13:00-13:15 Certificates to all participants and winning team announced Please note that this is an example timetable to give you an idea of the format and timings for the local heat. The programme of the day may differ from heat to heat. You will be contacted by your Local Organiser to confirm start and end times of your heat. Your local organiser will also let you know: Car parking/transport facilities Whether catering will be provided How many guests each school is allowed to bring Makeup of the team In England and Wales, the team must be made up of students in year 8 and/or 9. In Northern Ireland, students must be from Year 9 and/or 10. The team is made up of students taking on the roles of: lawyers, witnesses, usher, legal adviser, and magistrates. Your team will participate twice during the day of the heat prosecuting against one school in one of the rounds, and defending against another school in the other round. This means that not all of your team will be competing at the same time, and not every team member will compete in every round. Therefore, your team will be split into 3 categories: Prosecution roles Defence roles Magistrate roles When your team is prosecuting, the following students will be participating: Prosecution Lawyer 1 (Student 1) Prosecution Lawyer 2 (Student 2) Prosecution Witness 1(Student 3) Prosecution Witness 2 (Student 4) Legal Adviser(Student 5) Magistrate 1 (Student 6) Citi Citizenship Foundation

6 Magistrate 2 (Student 7) Magistrate 3 (Student 8) When your team is defending, the following students will be participating: Defence Lawyer 1(Student 9) Defence Lawyer 2 (Student 10) Defendant (Student 11) Defence Witness (Student 12) Usher (Student 13) Magistrate 1 (Student 6) Magistrate 2 (Student 7) Magistrate 3 (Student 8) If you have a full team of 13 students, the students playing the three magistrates are the only students that participate in both rounds ie when your team is prosecuting and when your team is defending. If you have a team of 12 students, the same student can play the roles of legal adviser and usher and will participate in both rounds ie student 5 will play both the legal adviser and the usher. It is advisable that you have at least two reserve students, resulting in a total of 14 to 15 students, in case someone is unable to participate unexpectedly. The reserve students should act as understudies. There will be a volunteer magistrate or legal professional who acts as the lead magistrate during the mock trial. This means there will be 7 magistrates sitting on each case in total. There will also be a volunteer magistrate or legal professional playing the role of court steward. This is to ensure everyone knows where they are meant to be placed in the court room at the start of the trial, and to show the usher where they need to go to lead the magistrates in and out of the courtroom. The characters are all written so that the names are not gender-specific to enable the roles to be played by both male and female students. Please be aware that in the actual mock trial, students may have to change their notes according to the gender of the students they are competing against. The confusion lies where the students have practised the case with their teammates and the person playing the role on their team is of a different gender than the person playing the role at the actual trial. Please note that if the student does not adapt to this it is considered to be speaking from a memorised script (alternatively, if they do adapt, it is considered as part of responding spontaneously ) and therefore may affect their score. Furthermore, if there are a high number of students interested in participating (at least 25 students) you may wish to enter a second team. Please note, however that both teams will be allocated to the same local heat. Second teams will only be permitted if there is availability in the local heat. Key Rules The following list outlines the main rules of the competition: Students should not read excessively from notes or speak from memorised scripts It is much easier to perform well if you can act spontaneously and judges will give more marks for this. Reading rigidly from notes or speaking from a memorised script may make your performance not true to life. Students must keep within the time limits set The judge is aware of the time limits and if students go over, they can only receive a maximum of four marks. Citi Citizenship Foundation

7 Students are expected to complete the work independently Teachers should only give tips to help them. Students should not introduce new evidence (that is not contained in the witness statements) It is not fair to expect a student playing a witness or a student playing a lawyer to ask or to be asked about things outside the scope of the witness statement. Students who introduce new evidence will gain a maximum of four marks. The Scoring System The scoring system was created several years ago in order to ensure fair and comprehensive judging across all of the heats. Given the size of the competition, it is not possible for all schools to play against one another at a heat. Instead, schools play against two other schools, with the overall winner determined by a scoring system that was created by a mathematician using formulas to fairly determine a winner. Each trial is also judged by a panel of three judges that results in an average score rather than the view of one single person. The scoring system is set in such a way that does not require a knock-out round, which is also meant to take the pressure off the young people as this may be one of their first experiences being in a court room, speaking in public, or presenting in front of adults, which can all be quite daunting. Court Reporter and Court Artist Competitions Alongside the main competition, each team can nominate a maximum of two court reporters and two court artists who also attend the local heat (this in addition to the team of students as an optional extra). These students observe the trials and write an article or draw a sketch based on the trial. Teachers must submit their entries directly to the Citizenship Foundation by Wednesday 25 th March Entries are judged nationally, with the top 10 shortlisted entries announced in late April and winners announced in late May. All participants receive a certificate and winners are invited to receive their prizes at the awards ceremony at the national final. Please see the student role guides for more details on each role. Citi Citizenship Foundation

8 Preparation for the competition In addition to the Schools Guide and Case, other resources are available to download from the website. There are individual student role guides, where students will have all of the information about their specific roles for teachers to print off and give each student. Each team member will also need a copy of the case. For information on how to download these, please see pages Workshop resources are also included in section two of this guide; these provide teachers with guidance for 12 preparation sessions (plus an additional two optional sessions). Time required The key to being prepared is to start preparing early! After you receive the preparation materials, begin the selection of your team. Details of how to do so are included on page 14 onwards. On average, teams tend to spend 15 to 20 hours over three months preparing for local heats. In some schools preparation takes place in class time and in others as an extra-curricular activity. It is likely that the students will need to do some work at home. This is especially the case for the lawyers. Make sure you select students for these roles who you know can be relied upon to do extra work at home. Support for teachers While only one teacher is required to prepare a team for the competition, many teachers highly recommend ensuring support from your headteacher and involving other teachers or older students to help organise the team. We will also be arranging webinars for you to help with preparations this year.. Look out for s for further information. The local organiser s role The competition is co-ordinated centrally by the Citizenship Foundation, where the Mock Trials Project Officer is available to answer general queries. However, you will also be allocated a local organiser who will be your main point of contact for the local heat. Local organisers are often magistrates or legal professionals who will: Inform you of the date, location and draw of the local heat This also includes any further practical matters regarding the event itself, as the local organiser runs the local heat. Arrange a visit to your school from a magistrate or legal professional This is a valuable exercise in introducing the work of the magistracy to young people. Please contact your local organiser in plenty of time, and note that visits are not guaranteed as they are done on a voluntary basis. Organise a visit to a local court for your team According to teachers feedback, attending an active court is the most useful way to prepare for the competition. Please note that a court visit is not guaranteed. Following an amendment to the Access to Justices Act 1999, children under the age of 14 are able to attend a trial at the court s discretion. This change was applied to Section 36 of the Children and Young Persons Act which deals with the general provisions as to proceedings in court. Citi Citizenship Foundation

9 Regional heats and national final If your team wins your local heat, you will be invited to a regional heat in May. A second case is issued and each team will prosecute and defend the new case only (this is different to the format in previous years). The draw, detailing which side of which case is to be played, will be sent to you a few weeks in advance. If you win a regional final, you will progress to the national final, which will be held at Birmingham Magistrates Court (Victoria Law Courts) on 20 th June 2015, and involve schools from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. At the national final both cases will come into play and the school will only perform on side of each case. It is important to remain flexible as you may be required to change sides in the cases for the final. Withdrawals If you are no longer able to participate in the competition, please inform the Mock Trials Project Officer and your local organiser as soon as possible. Withdrawing from the heats has serious implications as it impacts on all of the other schools involved in your heat and changes the draw. It also has huge logistical implications for all the legal volunteers on the day and often extends the amount of time that the court has to be open. If you do withdraw after Wednesday 10 th December 2014, your entry fee will not be returned, other than in exceptional circumstances. Citi Citizenship Foundation

10 Using the website preparation resources While much of the information you need to prepare a team is contained in this guide, you will need to access the website s resources section for a copy of the case and the student role guides How to access the website resources 1. Go to the website: A login box will appear in the top right-hand side of the page. On the drop-down menu select Mag Mock Trial and in the box below type the code: mgstrt14 Once logged in you will be able to access the resources by clicking the resources link MCMT Preparation Resources either in the main page or on the menu. Citi Citizenship Foundation

11 You can download copies of the guides and cases by clicking on the appropriate link. You can access the different teaching resources by clicking on the appropriate link. The resources/guides will download as a pdf. You then can save the document to your own computer. Please note you will need Adobe Acrobat to open the files. You can download Adobe Acrobat free at Citi Citizenship Foundation

12 Preparation Timetable Month October 2014 Citizenship Foundation Confirm receipt of application. Local Organiser Schools Check Applications close on Friday 17th October November 2014 Provides teachers with access to the preparation resources to all schools which have applied and paid. This access is via a password-protected area of the MCMT website. You will be ed details of how to access the resources in this way by the Project Officer. Provides teachers with local heat allocation, local heat date and local organiser contact details. Sends local heat details and information about arranging school and court visits. Log-on to the website to download competition resources. After reading the materials, if you have got any queries, contact the Project Officer. Recruit your team members, including reserves Decide regular team meeting day, time and place. Remind students to complete pre-participation evaluation survey and legal capability questionnaire online. Amend participation letters as necessary and give to students (see website for templates). Allocate student roles. Distribute student role guides and case to students and start preparing before Christmas break. Contact your local organiser to confirm details, arrange a court visit and a school visit from a magistrate. December 2014 Continue practicing the roles. NB. If you are unable to compete, contact the Project Officer before 10 th December 2013 to receive an entry fee refund. Withdrawals after this date result in a loss of the competition entry fee. Citi Citizenship Foundation

13 January/ February 2015 Sends draw allocation to teachers and confirms final arrangements for local heats (including start/end times, timetable for the day, parking information). Court visit takes place. Magistrate school visit take place. Send local heat letters to parents/carers (see website for templates) Return any required documents to local organiser for the local heat. Confirm with your local organiser if: refreshments will be available at your heat; red and blue badges and stopwatches will be supplied; and final local heat details. March 2015 LOCAL HEATS Submit Court Artist and Court Reporter entries to the Project Officer by Wednesday 25 th March Complete the teacher postparticipation evaluation survey online. Remind students to complete their post-participation evaluation survey online. Give out praise letters to students (see website for templates). Request local heat judging sheets from Mock Trials Project Officer by Wednesday 25 th March if you wish to receive a copy. April 2015 For schools proceeding to the regional heats - teachers will be sent the additional case, contact details of regional organiser and the date and location of regional final. Regional organisers will send teachers details of arrangements for regional heats, including the regional heat draw. Start preparing the second case. If you require financial support for travel to the regional final, think about contacting local law firms for funding, or ask your LEA for advice. Amend participation letters as necessary and give to students Citi Citizenship Foundation

14 Requested local heat judging sheets and ranking will be sent to schools who have requested them. (see website for templates) For schools that did not proceed to the regional heats: would you like to do the follow-up classroom activities? (See additional resources online). May 2015 REGIONAL HEATS June 2015 NATIONAL FINAL July 2015 September 2014 Requested regional heat judging sheets and ranking will be sent to schools who have requested them. Schools proceeding to the national final - teachers will be sent national final date and location details, draw allocation and national final forms. Regional heat and national final prize forms are received from teachers and processed. Requested judging sheets and ranking will be sent to national final schools who have requested them. Details about the 2015/16 competition are updated on the website, along with application forms. Regional heat judging sheets may be requested from the Mock Trials Project Officer. If you require financial support for travel to the national final, think about contacting local law firms for funding, or ask your LEA for advice. Please send team list and photo permission form to Project Officer before the deadline! Have you booked your travel and/or hotel for the final? Regional heat and national final schools - complete the teacher evaluation survey online. Remind students to complete their post-participation evaluation survey online. Send prize claim forms to the Mock Trials Project Officer before the deadline. Have you completed your online application form for the 2015/16 competition? Citi Citizenship Foundation

15 Option 1- Auditions How to select your team Students receive a copy of What roles can you play? (see page 15); Ask them to complete a task related to that role (e.g. lawyers prepare an opening speech, witnesses learn a statement); Select students based on their performance; It might also be useful to ask students to list their other regular commitments in order to assess how much time they might be able to devote to the competition. Are auditions useful? You can see the students actually performing the role and therefore know whether it suits them. However, auditions are time consuming for you and eat into valuable preparation time. Option 2- Suitability Questionnaire Students complete Which role suits you? (see page 16); Allocate roles based on what suits their skills using the Matrix (see page 17). Are questionnaires useful? You find out the students skills and can allocate suitable roles. However, this can be time consuming and students may be unhappy with the roles they are allocated. Option 3- Allocation decided by teacher You select students for each role based on your professional knowledge of them. Is teacher allocation useful? It is quick and you can use your own judgement. However, selected students may not be as suitable as you thought and this can result in a lack of commitment. Reserves It is highly recommended to select reserve students for your team who can act as understudies. This ensures that if a student needs to miss a practice session for some reason, a reserve student can step in to temporarily cover their role and more importantly, if a particular student is not committed they can be substituted by a reserve. NOTE: for a full description of the different roles please see the student role guides. It is advisable to have a copy of these to hand. Once your team is selected, fill in the final team list on p. 18. Citi Citizenship Foundation

16 What roles can you play? Use the information below to help you to decide what you would like to be in the mock trial. Role What they do Skills you need Magistrates Listen to the case Good listener Decide on the verdict Team worker Discuss the case with other Good at discussion magistrates Can use evidence to back up your opinions Prosecution Lawyers Question witnesses Give an opening speech Try to get a guilty verdict Can speak clearly to an audience Ability to think on your feet Good at questioning people Confidence to talk without a script Defence Lawyers Question witnesses Give a closing speech Try to get a not guilty verdict Can speak clearly to an audience Ability to think on your feet Good at questioning people Confidence to talk without a script Witnesses/ Defendant Give evidence in court Tell your side of what happened Good at acting Good listener Good at remembering facts Good at staying calm under pressure Legal Adviser Tell the court important facts about the case Give a speech to the magistrates at the end of the case Usher Makes sure the case runs smoothly Swears in witnesses Good listener Can speak clearly to an audience Ability to think on your feet Good ability to summarise a situation in your own words Good listener Can speak loudly and clearly Good at remembering things Good at following procedures Court Reporter (Two maximum) Court Artist (Two maximum) Watches court proceedings and puts together an article about the case they have seen Watches court proceedings and makes a sketch of an individual or group scene in court Attention to detail Ability to write clearly and concisely Creative, ideally with an art background Attention to detail Note: if you are in a team of 12 students the same student can play both the legal adviser (when your team is prosecuting) and the usher (when your team is defending). In a team of 13 students, these roles will be played by two different students. Citi Citizenship Foundation

17 Which role suits you? Look at the list of different skills below. Tick the ones that you think you have. I think about others I am careful I am truthful I have lots of common sense I am fair I am helpful I am a good listener I work well in a team I take a while to decide on my opinion I can back up my opinions with facts I am thoughtful I work hard I can ask short questions that focus on a certain issue I can concentrate well. I break things down into steps I pick up on detail I am not easily ruffled I am careful of the way I say things I can see weaknesses in arguments I have a good memory I can think on my feet I can speak clearly to an audience I am fairly confident I am very confident I can act quite well I can speak loudly to an audience I pay attention to detail I am accurate I can summarise well I pick up on key points I am a good watcher/observer I am good at memorising lines and a script Citi Citizenship Foundation

18 Which role suits you? Matrix This version of the questionnaire tells you which role each skill links to. Use this to help you allocate roles according to what pupils have ticked. Key: L = Lawyer W = Witness M = Magistrate A = Legal Adviser U = Usher I think about others I am careful I am truthful I have lots of common sense I am fair I am helpful I am a good listener I work well in a team I take a while to decide on my opinion I can back up my opinions with facts I am thoughtful I work hard I can ask short questions that focus on a certain issue I can concentrate well. I break things down into steps I pick up on detail I am not easily ruffled I am careful of the way I say things I can see weaknesses in arguments I have a good memory I can think on my feet I can speak clearly to an audience I am fairly confident I am very confident I can act quite well I can speak loudly to an audience I pay attention to detail I am accurate I can summarise well I pick up on key points I am a good watcher/observer I am good at memorising lines and a script M M M M M M M M M L/M L/M L L L L L L L L L/W L/W L/W L/W W W W A A A A U U Citi Citizenship Foundation

19 Team List Role Student Name What they do Prosecution Opening speech Lawyer 1 Examination-in-Chief of Prosecution Witness 1 Cross-Examination of Defendant Prosecution Examination-in-chief of Prosecution Witness 2 Lawyer 2 Cross-Examination of Defence Witness Defence Examination-in-Chief of Defendant Lawyer 1 Cross-Examination of Prosecution Witness 1 Closing speech Defence Examination-in-Chief of Defence Witness Lawyer 2 Cross-Examination of Prosecution Witness 2 Prosecution Witness 1 Questioned by Prosecution and Defence Lawyer 1 Prosecution Witness 2 Questioned by Prosecution and Defence Lawyer 2 Defendant Questioned by Prosecution and Defence Lawyer 1 Defence Witness Questioned by Prosecution and Defence Lawyer 2 Magistrate Decide verdict Magistrate Decide verdict Magistrate Decide verdict Legal Adviser Read charge and Section 9 statement Law summary Usher Swear in witnesses Reserve Reserve Court Artist(s) Attend the first trial of the local heat and submit a drawing to CF by 25 th March Court Reporter(s) Attend the first trial of the local heat and submit a report to CF by 25 th March N.B The Usher and Legal Adviser roles can be played by the same student if necessary. Prosecution Witness 1 in R v Henry is the Section 9 statement which read out by the Legal Adviser. Defence Team Both teams Prosecuting Team Citi Citizenship Foundation

20 Team selection Case studies from 2012/13 schools The following are ways of selecting teams that don t fall neatly into the above criteria but that we think are some really good approaches for you to consider. We have recruited students to the competition in a range of ways. I recent years we have asked Citizenship teachers and Drama teachers to nominate students who they think have the requisite ability. Then we would have auditions to select the strongest team from those select from amongst those nominated, Next year we are going to run the competition first as part of a mock trials club for gifted and talented students, and then are going to have auditions from amongst members of the club slightly further down the line to select the final team. We are switching to this approach because it will ensure that a wider range of students is able to engage with the competition before we actually end up deciding on the final team. It is also the case that not all students can commit the incredible amount of time demanded by the competition and so starting with a larger group of students and then selecting the final team later down the line will be helpful in this respect. Students are recruited by using the material for the cases that are being used in the competition. Lawyers need to prepare cross examination questions for the witness. Witness needs to prepare to be the person. Usher needs to practise swearing people in and the clerk of the court needs to practise putting the charge into straight-forward language. The students prepare for auditions. Auditions are held and the team from the previous year choose the students that they think are the best for the different roles. We recruit in this way because the students who have done the competition before are the best people to judge the ways in which students present themselves for the different roles since they have done it before. We do a whole year group assembly using the students from the competition the previous year and ask for volunteers to volunteer for the different roles at the end of the assembly. Material from the competition is distributed and then students prepare for auditions for the following week. Magistrates are chosen from students who are given a case and the arguments of the prosecution and the arguments of the defence and they need to discuss the case and the verdict that they would come to on the basis of the evidence presented. We have an open invitation to all Year 9s. We used to invite both Year 8s and 9s, but there was too much interest and so we restricted it to Year 9s. The competition has become particularly associated with the History department as all the History teachers invite their Year 9 classes. We have relaxed auditions: students explain why they want to be involved and which role they would like to take on. We try a much as possible to accommodate what the kids want to do. Past experience has taught me that if you select students based on the past evidence of public speaking ability for example, you miss out on those who really blossom when given the opportunity. In fact, past experience has taught me that I am very often wrong in the first instance when it comes to selecting students for roles. The competition is great in this respect because it enables the girls to develop talents even they didn t know they had. This year, we selected our team for the competition from a group of 25 students. There was a selection process whereby each student is given two options for their role in the competition based on their skills, and worked it out based on what they wanted to do and what we thought they would be good at. Sometimes the students really surprised us. A sensible but quiet girl volunteered to be the Legal Adviser and we warned her that the role involved quite a lot of standing up and speaking. When it came to the competition, this girl was a star and really came out of her shell when performing the role of Legal Adviser. Citi Citizenship Foundation

21 The Court Layout Please note that this layout of a Magistrates Court is an example, for learning purposes. In reality, courts might have a different layout (see Resource Sheet 5, page 22 in Schools Guide- Workshop Resources) Citi Citizenship Foundation

22 Order of Procedure The Order of Procedure sets out the process of the trial step by step. It is important that all students have a copy with them on the day of the mock trial so that they have a prompt, as missing parts of this procedure or not following it correctly can lose the team marks. Time allocations must be strictly adhered to. Role Event (Spoken lines in bold type) Timing BEGINNING OF TRIAL Usher Court rise N/A Everyone Stands Usher Leads magistrates into courtroom Magistrates Enter the court, bow and sit. Lawyers and court staff bow in return Everyone Sits Legal Adviser Stands. The prosecution is represented today by [names] and the defence by [names]. Gives the ID slips to the lead magistrate Legal Adviser Legal adviser asks the defendant to stand 2 minutes Defendant Stands Legal Adviser What is your name? Defendant My name is Legal Adviser Is your address? Defendant Yes Legal Adviser Is your date of birth? Defendant Yes Legal Adviser Are you represented by? Defendant Yes Legal Adviser You are charged with (insert charge from Case Outline here). Do you understand? Defendant Yes Legal Adviser How do you plead? Defendant Not guilty Legal Adviser To the magistrates: The defendant has consented to a trial in a magistrates court. We are in a position to proceed with the trial today. May the defendant be seated? N/A Lead Magistrate Gives the defendant permission to sit down CASE FOR THE PROSECUTION 1 st Prosecution Lawyer Makes the opening speech 4 minutes 1 st Prosecution Lawyer Asks legal adviser to read Section 9 statement N/A Please note the legal adviser cannot read the Section 9 statement unless prompted to do so by the 1 st prosecution lawyer Legal Adviser Reads Section 9 statement Up to 5 minutes 1 st Prosecution Lawyer Calls the 1 st prosecution witness N/A Citi Citizenship Foundation

23 Usher Leads the witness to the witness box. Asks them to repeat this affirmation: I do solemnly, sincerely and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth 1 st Prosecution Witness Repeats affirmation 1 st Prosecution Lawyer Examination-in-chief of 1 st prosecution witness 4½ minutes 1 st Defence Lawyer Cross-examination of 1 st prosecution witness 4½minutes Usher Leads 1 st prosecution witness back to his/her seat N/A 2 nd Prosecution Lawyer Calls 2 nd prosecution witness Usher Leads 2 nd prosecution witness to the witness box. Asks them to repeat this affirmation: I do solemnly (as above) 2 nd Prosecution Witness Repeats affirmation 2 nd Prosecution Lawyer Examination-in-chief of 2 nd prosecution witness 4½ minutes 2 nd Defence Lawyer Cross-examination of 2 nd prosecution witness 4½ minutes Usher Leads 2 nd prosecution witness back to his/her seat N/A 2 nd Prosecution Lawyer That is the case for the prosecution N/A CASE FOR THE DEFENCE 1 st Defence Lawyer Calls the defendant Usher Leads defendant to the witness box. Asks them to repeat this affirmation: I do solemnly (as above) Defendant Repeats affirmation 1 st Defence Lawyer Examination-in-chief of defendant 4½ minutes 1 st Prosecution Lawyer Cross-examination of defendant 4½ minutes Usher Leads defendant back to his/her seat N/A 2 nd Defence Lawyer Calls 2 nd defence witness Usher Leads 2 nd defence witness to the witness box. Asks them to repeat this affirmation: I do solemnly (as above) 2 nd Defence Witness Repeats affirmation 2 nd Defence Lawyer Examination-in-chief of 2 nd defence witness 4½ minutes 2 nd Prosecution Lawyer Cross-examination of 2 nd defence witness 4½ minutes Usher Leads 2 nd defence witness back to his/her seat N/A 1 st Defence Lawyer Makes closing speech. That is the case for the defence 4 minutes CONCLUSION OF THE TRIAL Legal Adviser Summary of the law for the magistrates 3 minutes Usher Court rise N/A Everyone Stands Magistrates Retire to consider their verdict 15 minutes Usher Court rise N/A Everyone Stands Usher Leads magistrates into courtroom Magistrates Enter the court. Bow to the court before sitting. Lawyers and court staff bow in return Everyone Sits Lead Magistrate Tells the court the verdict and possible sentences that might be given 2 minutes Citi Citizenship Foundation

24 Court Etiquette Court etiquette refers to the behaviour shown while in court. The following is a short list of tips on how to behave while in a courtroom during your trial: Do Dress smartly in court colours: black, dark blue or grey Get into character! Try to dress the part Stand up to address the court if possible Refer to magistrates as Your worship Refer to lead magistrates as sir / ma am Speak slowly, clearly and loudly Establish eye contact Don t Put your hands in your pockets Distract people by fiddling with things Give anything away in your facial expressions Refer to magistrates as Your honour Talk with your teammates whilst the trial is taking place Citi Citizenship Foundation

25 Judging There are three judges in each trial who are magistrates, legal advisers, solicitors or other legal professionals with court experience. Allocation of marks All roles are marked out of 10, apart from the lawyers who are marked on each speech that they make, up to a maximum total of 50. There are also 10 marks available for the overall performance of the team. See pages 25 to 27 for the judging criteria. Marking guidelines Timing Teams will be penalised if the students use more than their allocated time. The lead magistrate should inform a student if their time is up, and to draw their argument to a close within the next 30 seconds (see the Order of Procedure pages 21-22). Introducing new evidence Witnesses are not allowed to elaborate beyond the information contained in their statements; they should say, I don t know, rather than make it up if a lawyer asks a question outside the scope of their statement. Reliance on script Witness statements provide factual information, and must not be read word for word by lawyers or witnesses during the trial. However, lawyers can quote from the statements. Bias Marks will be deducted if a magistrate appears to simply support his or her team, rather than discuss the trial impartially. Order of Procedure This must be followed to avoid losing marks see pages Feedback Judges feedback forms regarding student performances may be available at the end of the day at local heats. However, please note this is not guaranteed; the onus is on teachers to collect feedback forms from the Local Organiser at the end of the day - see pages If you would like to receive the individual judging sheets for your school, i.e. the numerical results, please contact the Mock Trials Project Officer at the Citizenship Foundation after the heat. Please note requests from heat winners will be processed first in order to ensure that they may use the feedback for the preparation of their next round; furthermore due to the volume of requests received, other requests may take several weeks to process. All requests should be made by Wednesday 25 th March Please contact the Project Officer for details. Citi Citizenship Foundation

26 Judging Criteria Lawyers Number of marks Opening (4 mins)/closing (4 mins) Speech Examination-in-Chief (4 ½ min) Cross-Examination (4 ½ min) 1-2 Lasts over four minutes Lasts over four and a half minutes Lasts over four and a half minutes Read completely from a script Read completely from a script Read completely from a script New evidence introduced New evidence introduced New evidence introduced Unclear or inaccurate Excessive leading questions Questions too long and complex Lacks confidence Questions too long and complex Questions don t take account of answers 3-4 Lasts over four minutes Lasts over four and a half minutes Lasts over four and a half minutes Mainly read from a script Mainly read from a script Mainly read from a script Some new evidence introduced Some new evidence introduced Some new evidence introduced Unclear or inaccurate in places Asks some leading questions Some questions too long and complex Lacks confidence Some questions too long and complex Questions often don t take account of answers 5-6 Lasts four minutes or less Lasts four and a half minutes or less Lasts four and a half minutes or less Some reliance on a script Some reliance on a script Some reliance on a script No new evidence introduced No new evidence introduced No new evidence introduced Mainly clear and accurate Very few leading questions Most questions clear and concise Has some confidence Most questions clear and concise Some questions take account of answers 7-8 Lasts four minutes or less Lasts four and a half minutes or less Lasts four and a half minutes or less Little reliance on a script Little reliance on a script Little reliance on a script No new evidence introduced No new evidence introduced No new evidence introduced Information virtually all accurate Almost no unnecessary leading questions Nearly all questions clear and concise Mainly confident presentation Nearly all questions clear and concise Most questions take account of answers 9-10 Lasts four minutes or less Lasts four and a half minutes or less Lasts four and a half minutes or less Virtually no reliance on a script Virtually no reliance on a script Virtually no reliance on a script No new evidence introduced No new evidence introduced No new evidence introduced Information completely accurate No unnecessary leading All questions clear and concise questions Confident presentation All questions clear and concise Nearly all questions take account of answers Citi Citizenship Foundation

27 Other Roles Number of Legal Adviser Magistrate marks 1-2 Frequently does not follow procedure Frequently not attentive during trial Speech lasts over three minutes Inaccurate reading of Section 9 statement(s) Does not grasp facts of the case Does not contribute to the discussion Reads the main issues of the case only from what is provided Does not apply the law in decision making or base the decision on what is said in court 3-4 Often does not follow procedure Often not attentive during trial Speech lasts over three minutes Inaccurate reading of Section 9 statement(s) Grasps little facts of the case Contributes little to the discussion Mostly reads the main issues of the case from what is provided and uses little of their own words Does not apply the law in decision making or base the decision on what is said in court 5-6 Sometimes does not follow procedure Sometimes attentive during trial Speech lasts three minutes or less Some inaccuracies in reading of Section 9 statement(s) Has identified some of the main issues of the case using some of their own words Grasps some of the facts of the case Contributes to the discussion, but is not fair, impartial or is over-powering Applies some of the law in decisionmaking and mostly bases decision on what is said in court 7-8 Usually follows procedure Usually attentive during trial Speech lasts three minutes or less Reading of Section 9 statement(s) mainly accurate Has identified most of the main issues of the case in their own words 9-10 Always follows procedure Attentive during trial Speech lasts three minutes or less Reading of Section 9 statement(s) accurate Has identified all of the main issues of the case in their own words Grasps most of the facts of the case Mostly contributes to the discussion fairly and impartially without being overpowering Applies most of the law in decision-making and mostly bases decision on what is said in court Good grasp of the facts of the case Contributes to the discussion fairly and impartially without being over-powering Applies the law in decision-making and bases decision on what is said in court Citi Citizenship Foundation

28 Number of Witnesses Usher marks 1-2 Responses not spontaneous Frequently does not follow procedure New evidence introduced Frequently does not deal with disruptions Not convincing Lacks confidence 3-4 Responses often not spontaneous Often does not follow procedure Some new evidence introduced Often does not deal with disruptions Often not convincing Lacks confidence 5-6 Responses sometimes spontaneous Sometimes does not follow procedure No new evidence introduced Sometimes does not deal with disruptions Often convincing Has some confidence 7-8 Responses often spontaneous Usually follows procedure No new evidence introduced Usually deals with disruptions Usually convincing Mainly confident presentation 9-10 All responses spontaneous Always follows procedure No new evidence introduced Always deals with disruptions Always convincing Confident presentation Overall Team Performance Number of Criteria marks 1-2 Do not work as a team Impression that the students don t understand what they are doing 3-4 Often do not work as a team Impression that the students often don t understand what they are doing 5-6 Sometimes do not work as a team Impression that the students sometimes don t understand what they are doing 7-8 Usually work as a team Impression that the students usually understand what they are doing 9-10 Always work as a team Impression that the students completely understand what they are doing Citi Citizenship Foundation

29 The Scoring System The verdict of the case is irrelevant to the scoring. It is the students performance that determines the winner. The competition follows a fair, comprehensive scoring system. As some judges will naturally mark higher or lower than others, it is not necessarily the team with the highest number of marks overall that will win. Therefore, we use a hierarchy as follows: 1. Highest number of trial wins 2. Highest number of individual wins 3. Highest overall points difference 4. Overall team performance If competing teams receive the same number of trial wins, the scoring will proceed to the next level, that is, the number of individual wins. If this is also the same, the winner will be determined according to the highest overall point s difference, followed by overall team performance. Trial Winner Explained In a trial, each of the three judges will complete a judging sheet for each team. On each sheet, the highest scoring team wins. Therefore, a team can be awarded a maximum of three wins (one from each judge). The team with highest number of wins (two or three out of three) wins that trial. The winning team is awarded one trial win and the losing team zero trial wins. For example: Judge Team X Team Y Individual Wins A Y B X C Y Team Y are the trial winners as two out of three judges felt they were the best team. Individual winner Explained If there is a tie on the number of trials won, the team with the most individual wins awarded by judges will be the winner. Each team can gain a maximum of three wins in each round (maximum of six overall as there are two rounds). In the example above, team Y has two individual wins and team X have one. Citi Citizenship Foundation