Most college students, if they’re lucky, won’t step foot in a courtroom during their time in school; but for Ellie Yacks, luck looks a bit different.
Yacks is a political science and English double major on a pre-law track, and as the president of EMU Mock Trial, she spends her weekends and time outside of class rehearsing for fake court cases.
Mock Trial and Moot Court are two parts of one student organization at Eastern Michigan University ideal for anyone looking for a chance to improve their speaking, preparation and performance skills.
For pre-law students like Yacks, however, it goes beyond the technical skills of practice and competition. Mock Trial is a run-through for her future career.
“It’s the best opportunity to get that experience,” Yacks said. “There’s no way you can know what a courtroom is like unless you’re in one.”
Students in Mock Trial and Moot Court participate in yearly civil or criminal cases set in a fictional place with fictional laws and legal precedents.
Teams are split into prosecution and defense and members play either an attorney or a witness. Attorneys give opening and closing statements, question witnesses, and raise and challenge objections. Witnesses play a character and give testimony based on their character profile.
Professor of political science and advisor to the Mock Trial and Moot Court program, Barry Pyle, PhD, helped start the teams at EMU in 2001 and 2013. He emphasized how the extracurriculars provide skills to students for an ever evolving world and tough job market.
“The world is moving much faster than the world of education,” Pyle said. “Students who are going to be successful in life have to be adaptive.”
That real-time adaptation was pivotal for Grant Clark, social media and recruitment manager for Mock Trial and Moot Court.
“A lot of this you talk about it for a while, and it just seems theoretical, but then you’re in the courtroom and you try it for the first time,” Clark said. “It was a little horrifying at first.”
The supportive community of the Mock Trial teams encouraged camaraderie, growth and reflection.
“We’re a very serious organization, there’s no way around that,” Clark said. “But we can also be a very fun organization.”
Mock Trial and Moot Court are open to any student at EMU who’s interested. The teams travel for tournaments and compete regularly throughout the fall and winter semesters. Students looking for more information can email Barry Pyle at bpyle@emich.edu or emumockmoot@gmail.com.
