On April 9th, highly dedicated students gathered at Yongsan International School for a court case. The victim, Hilly Fields, was atrociously shot at a charity fashion show by her own uncle who passed away soon after the murder. Students, designated either witness or judge, worked deliberately to present their account and bring the guilty man to justice. Doesn’t this seem real enough to you? 

Mock Trial is an intensive extracurricular activity in which student gets an opportunity to simulate the actions of an actual court. Students are given multiple accounts of witnesses and evidences of a hypothetical court case in which they have to prove either one’s guilty or innocent. Direct and cross examination is prepared by each team composed of 6 or more people and presented in front of a judge at the location. 

Though the case seemed rather simple due to the information given on the outside, the students were able to find faults and support their own point using the couple of weeks they were given to prepare.  Prior to the event, attorneys were responsible for understanding dozens of objections and crafted directing questions that would help them prove their argument. Furthermore, the witnesses had to fully understand their account of the incident and prepare themselves to answer questions from the opposing attorney. 

Such an arduous job sometimes exhausted students but everyone was able to work through the difficulties with the passion to find the truth which is not explicitly given. One of the participants from KIS mentioned: “Mock Trial is not easy but as you prepare, you get to know more about the truth; sometimes hard and complicated to defend your side, I think mock trial has many merits for students interested in law.” From this enriching experience, students were able to think like a lawyer and act like a witness—learning more about court procedures. 

Despite the effort necessary, mock trial is a rewarding program for many students to participate in. Who knows if one of them will be the next international lawyer? If you join mock trial, the successful lawyer might be you!

Junyong (Jake) Jung
Grade 10
Korea International School