In 1996, we engaged in a full-blown mock trial that was held in the LaPorte Circuit Courtroom with Judge Robert W. Gilmore, Jr. presiding. Two teams drawn from a single class conducted that trial. In 1999, the project was expanded. My Business Law division opposed a division taught by attorney Jenny Hand in a mock trial. Ms. Hand's other division provided the jury pool. Again, the trial was held in the LaPorte Circuit Courtroom with Judge Robert W. Gilmore, Jr. presiding. Students from both classes did an exemplary job of presenting their cases in a court room that rivals any in the state of Indiana.
These mock trials bring to the students the true nature of law. Legal theories do not exist in a factual vacuum. Legal issues overlap. Several areas of law can control the disposition of a single factual situation. Preparing for a mock trial is difficult, sometimes tedious, always challenging. Conducting a trial is art. No student has ever suggested that it was not educational.
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