• History of the Championship:
  The first national mock trial championship was initiated in 1984 in Des Moines, Iowa, with five teams participating. After the success of the tournament in Iowa, twice as many teams participated the following year, and the tournament became known as the All-State Tournament.

By 1989, the tournament had grown to include teams from 28 states. In response to the program’s dynamic growth, participating state mock trial coordinators restructured the competition, and it officially became known as National High School Mock Trial Championship. The championship is held in a different state each year to ensure that the tournament is moved to various geographic regions nationwide.

A listing of participant history and past national winners is available on the national organization’s Web site.

• This year’s mock trial case takes place at a rodeo in which one of the competitors is accused of second-degree murder after allegedly tampering with a fellow competitor’s reins, which ultimately caused her death after being bucked from her horse.



• The case is usually written to reflect a unique characteristic of the host state.



• This is the first time Oklahoma has hosted the National High School Mock Trial Championship. Oklahoma first participated in the championship in 1985, the second year of competition.



• The tournament is hosted annually by different states to ensure that the cost of running the tournament doesn't fall disproportionately on any particular state.



• 44 teams (approximately 400 students) will contend for the national title. Teams from 39 states as well as Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and South Korea will participate.



• Nearly 400 attorneys and judges are volunteering to staff the event and judge the mock trials. Approximately 80 percent of the volunteers are Oklahoma bar members.



• The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands team from Saipan Southern High School will be traveling the farthest – more than 7,000 miles. The team made its debut in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in 2000. The Northern Mariana Islands is a commonwealth in political union with the United States. It is located in the west Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines.



• South Korea is competing for the first time in this year’s championship. The team, represented by Hanyoung Foreign Language High School in Seoul, will travel 6,651 miles to Oklahoma City. They will be competing in English, which is their second language. South Korea is an East Asian country on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.



• The Guam team, represented by St. John’s School in Hagatna, will travel 6,648 miles to Oklahoma City. The team made its debut in the National High School Mock Trial Championship in 1990. The Territory of Guam is an island in the western Pacific Ocean and is an organized unincorporated territory of the United States.



• Teams consist of eight official members assigned to roles representing the prosecution/plaintiff and defense/defendant sides. An optional ninth member may assume timekeeper responsibilities only. Only six members may participate in any given round.



• A random method of selection will determine opponents in the first round. A power-match system will determine opponents for all other rounds. The two teams emerging with the strongest record from the four rounds will advance to the final round. The first-place team will be determined by ballots from the championship round only.



• Teams are identified by number, not by state. Teams competing in the same round do not know which state they are competing against.



• Courtroom observers are not allowed to wear clothing that might identify what state they represent.



• The judging panel is composed of one presiding judge and three scoring judges. Scoring judges only complete score sheets.



• The scoring judges must be persons with substantial mock trial coaching or scoring experience or attorneys. Each scoring panel shall include at least one attorney. The presiding judge shall be an attorney. At the discretion of the host director, the championship round may have a larger panel.



• All witnesses are gender neutral. Any student may portray the role of any witness of either gender.



• Teams do not know which side (prosecution or defense) they will represent until immediately before the round. The sides are assigned in a manner that will try to give teams have a chance to represent both sides.



• Teams will be ranked based on the following criteria in the order listed:
  
  1. Win/loss record - equals the number of rounds won or lost by a team;
  2. Total number of ballots - equals the number of scoring judges' votes a team earned in preceding rounds;
  3. Total number of points accumulated in each round;
  4. Point spread against opponents - the point spread is the difference between the total points earned by the team whose tie is being broken less the total points of that team's opponent in each previous round. The greatest sum of these point spreads will break the tie in favor of the team with the largest cumulative point spread.



• Selection of sides for championship round:
  In determining which team will represent which side in the championship round, the following procedure shall be used:
  
  1. The team with the letter/numerical code which comes first alphabetically or numerically will be considered the “designated team.”
  2. The coin will be tossed by a designee of the host state coordinator.
  3. If the coin comes up heads, the designated team shall represent the plaintiff/prosecution in the championship round. If the coin comes up tails, the designated team shall represent the defendant.



• The goals of the National High School Mock Trial Championship are:
  
  • to promote greater understanding and appreciation for the law, court procedures, and the American judicial system;
  • to improve basic life skills, such as critical thinking, reading, speaking, and advocacy;
  • to improve communication and cooperation among key community members including schools, teachers, government leaders, law professionals and citizens;
  • to heighten appreciation for the principle of equal justice for all;
  • to promote an awareness of current legal issues;
  • to promote the exchange of ideas among students from throughout the United States while providing a rewarding and memorable experience of interaction.



• Renée Hildebrant, 2006 Host Director, is the court administrator of the Oklahoma County Courthouse. She is a past chairperson of the OBA Mock Trial Committee, and she is a member of the National High School Mock Trial Championship Board of Directors. She was admitted to the Oklahoma Bar Association in 1994.