According to club sponsor Holly Hochstedler, Mock Trial Club will resume activity in late October or November with the date for a call-out meeting tentative. Soon after the call-out meeting, members of the club will be auditioning for roles in the Mock Trial competition.

“The first meeting in late October will just be informational with the try-outs for positions soon after. Competition season typically starts in January and ends in around March,” Hochstedler said.

Club member Mark Tague said he enjoyed the club last year because of the simulated trial environment.

Tague said, “It is kind of like a debate, but it is more fun because it is more of an improvisation than something you memorize. That makes the trial much more fun and puts you in a position that is like a real trial.”

Mock Trial itself is a competition that schools in Hamilton County participate in. Individual schools each select 10 students to participate in the competition. The team is split into plaintiffs and defense, with two lawyers and three witnesses on each team.

“Before competition season, club meetings will just be practice for those who are going to competition,” Hochstedler said. “We have two attorneys named Rodney Sarkovics and Kevin Clausing from the Campbell Kyle Proffitt law firm to help choose students for attorney and witness positions.”

Tague said that students who are interested in law should join the club.

“If you want to be a lawyer, Mock Trial is a good preview of what a real lawyer might go through. The trial itself is built around the legal laws of Indiana, and the attorneys must follow that law during the mock trial,” Tague said. “If you are interested, listen to announcements for the call-out meeting date.”