Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2. Suggested case. Each group shall scout for and submit a case
for trial derived from an actual legal dispute, whether civil or criminal (not
including labor cases that do not undergo trial). The chosen case may
still be in the process of trial or has already been decided. Possible
sources of these cases are records in the hands of litigation lawyers or
records that courts keep. To protect the identities of the personalities
involved in these cases, such as the parties, their counsel, and the judge,
their names shall be changed for the purpose of the mock trial.
7. Individual case file and trial brief. Each member of a group shall
prepare and maintain his own individual case file, containing copies of all
the documents that shall be adduced in the case, the affidavits of the
witnesses from both sides and their respective documentary exhibits. The
member’s name shall appear on the cover of the file. He shall also
prepare his individual trial brief on the case, a copy of which he shall
submit to the professor (thru the college office) within one week after the
exchange of opposing affidavits. Any student who is unable to submit the
required individual trial brief on time shall be excluded from the trial. The
individual trial brief shall contain the following:
8. Group trial brief required. The members of the group shall then
meet and discuss the various individual trial briefs, debate their merits,
and come up with a group trial brief, copy of which they shall submit to the
professor on the first day of the trial of their case.
9. Trial Proper. The Rules of Court shall govern the trial. For
classroom purposes, however, the following additional ground rules shall
be observed:
e. The presiding judge shall then ask the parties if they are ready; if
they are, he shall require the plaintiff to call his or her witness.
f. The trial clerk shall swear in the witness, then ask him his
personal circumstances.
g. The plaintiff’s counsel shall ask court’s permission to proceed
with the examination of the witness and this shall be granted.
h. Before examining the witness, counsel shall make an offer of his
testimony.
i. Counsel shall begin his direct examination.
j. The stenographers shall record the questions and the answers.
k. When documentary evidence is presented, counsel shall, unless
the evidence has been previously marked in the judicial affidavit, requests
that it be marked as Exh. A, if for plaintiff, and Exh. 1, if for defendant; the
trial clerk shall place the appropriate marking on the document; counsel
shall ask the witness to authenticate the document by stating how he
relates to it.
l. When the direct examination ends, the defendant’s counsel shall
ask the court’s permission to cross-examine the witness.
m. After the cross examination, plaintiff’s counsel may conduct a re-
direct examination; defendant’s counsel may do a re-cross.
n. Plaintiff’s counsel shall make a formal offer of his documentary
exhibits, stating the purpose of the offer.
o. Defendant’s counsel shall comment on or object to the offer.
p. Court shall admit or deny admission of the offered exhibits.
q. Plaintiff’s counsel shall rest his case.
r. The defendant shall present his or her case in the same
sequence.
s. After trial, one of the plaintiff’s counsel, followed by one of the
defendant’s counsel, shall argue their cases.
t. The panel of judges shall render its decision.
10. Trial Support Group. Three groups shall take part in every trial.
The groups that are paired to try a case against each other shall be the
principal groups. The third group shall serve as the support group
from which shall be drawn the following: a) the judge; b) the trial clerk who
shall call the case, elicit the personal data needed from the witness,
swear him, and mark the exhibits; c) two stenographers who shall divide
between themselves the work of taking down the questions and the
answers of the witness; and d) the time keeper who shall monitor the time
consumed for direct examination, cross-examination, re-direct
examination, re-cross examination, and oral argument.
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Out of the six cases that shall be tried, the principal groups in the
sixth case shall be the support group for the first case; the principal
groups in the first case shall be the support group for the second case;
the principal groups in the second case shall be the support group for the
third case, and so on until the last case. The principal groups whose case
shall be tried shall choose by consensus from the support group the
student presiding judge who shall hear their case. The student presiding
judge shall be the leader of the support group and shall designate who
shall be the trial clerk, the stenographers, and the time keeper.