Undergraduate students from any major and in any year of their studies, including incoming freshmen, are eligible to tryout for the Maryland Mock Trial Program.

Nope! Don’t worry if you’re not familiar with mock trial yet. We’ll teach you everything you need to know. Every year, we have students join the program with little to no mock trial experience who become award-winning attorneys and witnesses.

Mock trial is a great opportunity for anyone interested in acting, public speaking, debate, performance, or storytelling. The only requirements are an ambition to be the best and a commitment to helping the team win (though being naturally charismatic, a great actor, and a polished public speaker are all very helpful traits).

Students typically join at the beginning of the school year, which provides the opportunity to attend our trial advocacy workshops to learn the basic skills and knowledge required for collegiate mock trial. Joining at the beginning of the year, also allows you to register to earn three credits by enrolling in a GVPT217.

Students may be able to join after meeting us at the First Look Fair, which is usually the second week of September. Unfortunately, the First Look Fair is after the drop/add deadline, which prevents these students from registering for GVPT217 (but you still be able to join and compete on a team).

In very limited circumstances and depending on team needs, students with substantial acting, mock trial, or public speaking experience may be able to join the program later in the fall semester or prior to the beginning of the spring semester. Contact us for more information.

Yes. While we work hard to include and support every student willing to dedicate the time necessary to improve and help the team win, there is a tryout process to join the program. For 2022, info sessions will be held on August 24th (on Zoom) and 31st (in-person @ Tydings Hall). Tryouts will be held on September 3rd & 4th.

Want more information about the tryout process? Finish reading this FAQ and fill out the interest form at the end. At the end of the interest form is a link to the tryout packet.

Our goal is to compete at the highest level and win our sixth national championship, so we invest a substantial amount of time throughout the year to improve our skills and master the case.

We meet as an entire program every Wednesday evening and Sunday during the day. Students and their teams also hold meetings outside of the Wednesday & Sunday times to prepare for practice trials and competitions.

Though the time commitment may be daunting, many students find mock trial to be the most rewarding experience they have at Maryland.

Mock trial competitions are held on weekends throughout the school year. Most tournaments include two rounds on Saturday and two rounds on Sunday. Occasionally, tournaments are comprised of one round Friday evening, two rounds on Saturday, and one round on Sunday morning.

In the fall, teams attend tournaments hosted by colleges and universities around the nation, known as invitational tournaments. Our teams attend invitationals in October, November, and early December (don’t worry, we are always done at least a week before finals).

Students continue practicing over winter break and during January to prepare for American Mock Trial Association (AMTA) tournaments in the spring. AMTA Regional tournaments are held in February, where teams can qualify for Opening Round Championship tournaments (ORCS) in March. Finishing at the top at ORCS, earns you a bid to the National Championship Tournament, which is in April.

Of course. We can almost guarantee you that we have had a successful student with similar commitments. Maryland Mock Trial has had students who worked/interned full-time, students who were president of their sorority or fraternity, and even the starting running back on our football team.

With that said, you must be willing to put in the same amount of work as students without those commitments and be willing to prioritize mock trial over other student organizations.

The Mock Trial Program includes co-curricular courses that provide academic credit for being a member of the mock trial team. The courses are offered through the Department of Government & Politics. The first course in the program is GVPT217 — Mock Trial: Intro to Trial Advocacy, which is offered in the fall semester. In the spring semester, students can register for GVPT317 — Advanced Trial Advocacy. Returning students are eligible to enroll in GVPT388M for one credit per semester in their second, third, and fourth years in the program. For more information:

GVPT217 (PermReq): Mock Trial: Introduction to Trial Advocacy (3 credits) [Fall only]

GVPT317 (PermReq): Advanced Trial Advocacy (3 credits) [Spring only]

GVPT388M (PermReq): Topical Investigations: Mock Trial (1 credit) [Fall & Spring]

Note: Credits earned from mock trial courses are experiential learning credits. Please contact your academic advisor to determine how these credits count toward your major or elective academic requirements.

No, the courses are restricted to students who join the program and active members of a team (i.e. attending and participating in Wednesday and Sunday practices and trials as well as additional team meetings).

GVPT217 is a co-curricular course available for students in their first semester of the program. Permission will be granted once you are selected to join.

How do you start the process to join? Read the rest of this FAQ, and fill out the interest form at the end.

We typically hold information sessions in late spring, in August, and at the beginning of the fall semester. Our fall info session is always held at 6:30 pm on the first Wednesday of the semester during our first class in Tydings Hall (look up GVPT217 on Testudo for the exact room).

For information about additional info sessions, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for specific dates, times, and locations.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you have about the program, courses, or college mock trial in general.

Great! Make sure you read all of the info above, fill out the Maryland Mock Trial Interest Form, and contact us to confirm your submission.

(Depending on the time of year, we may not reach out until the next recruiting cycle.)