Trial Format + Rules

Note: The rules outlined below apply to Empire's fall programs. Please refer to our Spring page to learn about our Spring Leagues.

4 Trials

You are guaranteed to compete in four trials.

2 rounds

as

Plaintiff/Prosecution

2 rounds

as

Defense

  • You cannot get eliminated from the competition.

  • You compete in one of 2 divisions. Each division comprises half the field in the competition.

  • After 4 trials…

    • Empire Classic - the top team in each division face off in the Championship Round;

    • Empire Online - the top four teams in each division (i.e. 8 in total) move on to a final 8, single elimination competition.

6 or 7 Students Per Trial

Each team must field either 6 or 7 different students per trial: 3 witnesses and either 3 or 4 attorneys. Teams decide whether to field 3 or 4 attorneys in a trial, which then determines whether a total of 6 or 7 students compete in a trial. 

Empire cases consist of 4-5 witness statements per side. Teams will be required to call at least one witness to the stand (i.e. the Guest Witness), but will have the option of choosing at least one, sometimes two, witness character(s) they consider best suited for their case and students. You can read more about how Empire cases are structured here.

Click on one of the options below to find out more about Empire role assignments, including how the 3- or 4-person attorney structure works.

ATTORNEY ROLE ASSIGNMENT

In designing this set of rules, our goal is simple: to ensure that teams are dividing the workload evenly amongst their attorneys. We believe that this is crucial from both an educational and competitive perspective.

As you review the rules, keep these definitions in mind:

Speech refers to the pre-trial oral argument (“POA”), opening statement or closing argument.

Exam refers to either a direct or a cross examination.

3 Attorneys

If you opt to field 3 attorneys in a trial, then the rules are easy: each attorney will be responsible for delivering one speech, one direct exam and one cross exam. There is no flexibility.

4 Attorneys

If you decide to field 4 attorneys in a trial, it gets a bit more complicated and you have more to consider:

    1. An attorney cannot perform more than one speech per side.This means that 3 of your attorneys will deliver a speech on a given side, and 1 attorney will not. Please note that this rule does not preclude an attorney from giving a speech on both the plaintiff/prosecution and the defense.

    2. The attorney who does not give a speech must conduct one direct and one cross–no more, no less. The purpose of this rule, like the following rule, is to distribute the workload. One attorney cannot be responsible for all direct or cross examinations in exchange for not performing a speech, for instance.

    3. Each attorney must conduct at least one exam. A speech-giving attorney may not focus solely on their speech.

    4. No attorney may conduct more than one direct or more than one cross. You can’t have a “specialist” who handles multiple directs or multiple crosses.

    5. The attorney delivering the pre-trial oral argument (“POA”) may not direct the Guest Witness (“GW”). This is because the GW will be preparing their direct exam with their directing attorney during the POA. Hence, it’s not physically possible for the GW directing attorney to also do the POA!

Confused yet? Don’t be. Your final assignments will look like this:

A = Attorney | Speech = POA, Opening, Closing

3 Attorneys

A1 A2 A3
Speech Speech Speech
Direct Direct Direct
Cross Cross Cross

4 Attorneys

A1 A2 A3 A4
Speech Speech Speech Direct
Direct Direct or Cross Direct or Cross Cross
Cross

TIMEKEEPING

The timekeeper must be a rostered student. You may have an additional student who is not competing in the given round serve as a timekeeper (our preference). But you may also use one of your competing students as a timekeeper.

A person who is not on your roster may not serve as a timekeeper—so a coach, chaperone and/or family member may not timekeep.

PARTY REPRESENTATIVE

You may have an additional rostered student (not one of the competing attorneys/witnesses) serve as a non-testifying party representative and sit at counsel’s table during the trial. A non-testifying party representative will not be scored.

For example, our 2015 case featured a police department as a defendant in a civil action. Some defense teams elected to sit the defendant’s party representative, the Police Chief, at counsel’s table during the trial, but did not call him/her to testify.

28 Students per team

Your team may consist of up to 28 students. That means you may have 7 different students compete in each of the four trials (though this is rarely done).

A standard registration package covers a group of 14 people; this typically consists of 12 competing students and 2 coaches, although you’re free to structure your roster however you like.

Team Introductions

Representatives from your team will meet approximately 30 minutes prior to the start of your round for a Team Introduction, which will take place in your assigned courtroom. Your representatives will announce their witness lineup, complete relevant forms and show any enlarged exhibits or demonstratives to their opponent. This meeting is unrelated to the Pre-Trial Oral Argument.

Note: Teams are permitted to enlarge exhibits and create their own demonstratives subject to Rule 4.5 in our Rules of Procedure.

55-Minute Trial Time Limit

At Empire, we give you 8 minutes for the pre-trial oral argument and 55 minutes to present the rest of your case. You may divide that 55 minutes however you like. For instance, you may spend 5 minutes on an eye-witness direct and 10 minutes on your expert direct; or 20 minutes on your defense directs and 30 minutes on your crosses. Just make sure you stay within your 55 minutes.

Our time limits allow you the freedom to present your case in the manner that you see fit. But with great power, comes great responsibility. Students must stay alert during their trials to ensure that time isn’t misallocated. For example, if a cross takes longer than anticipated, your students will have to adapt. The ability to use your time effectively and adapt to events that occur in trial is part of what we’re looking to test.

PRE-TRIAL ORAL ARGUMENT TIMING

Each student has up to eight minutes to present their argument. Any time reserved for rebuttal will be deducted from the eight minutes. Time elapsed during Presider questions is included in this time limit.

Uninterrupted time

Each party will have forty-five seconds of uninterrupted time at the start of their argument, after which the Presider will question the advocate. This uninterrupted time is included in the eight-minute time limit.

Rebuttal

The moving party may reserve up to three minutes for a rebuttal, but is not required to do so. If the moving party wishes to save time for rebuttal, they must announce to the Presider the specific amount of time they would like prior to starting their argument.

Courtesy time

Once time expires, the Court may grant each side additional time, beyond the prescribed eight minutes, in accordance with the following rules:

    i. If time is called and the moving party is in the middle of making an argument, or a judge is in the middle of asking a question, a courtesy period of up to one minute may be requested by the advocate or invoked by the Court. The Court is not required to grant the advocate’s request.

    ii. Any time that is used by the moving party during the courtesy period shall be added to the amount of time allotted for the responding party’s argument.

    iii. The responding party is given the same option of requesting a courtesy period.

    iv. Any time that is used by the responding party during the courtesy period shall be added to the amount of time allotted for the moving party’s rebuttal.

    v. Additional courtesy time may not be granted during the moving party’s rebuttal.

TRIAL TIMING: 55 MINUTES TOTAL

The “clock” starts when a speech or examination begins, and ends when a speech or examination ends.

The “clock” will stop during objection arguments.

A team that runs out of time will not be permitted to present any further examinations or speeches. A judge will give a score of “0” for any unperformed examination or speech.

16 Scoring Categories

Each trial will feature 2-3 judges who will score you in 16 different categories using a 1-10 scale.

+ 1X – Pre-Trial Oral Argument (counts for double – we multiply the score by 2)
+ 2X – Speeches – opening, closing
+ 3X – Attorney on direct
+ 3X – Attorney on cross
+ 3X – Witness on direct (one of which comes from your guest witness in another trial)
+ 3X – Witness on cross (one of which comes from your guest witness in another trial)
+ 1X – “Extemp” – team’s overall ability to adapt to a trial and to raise / respond to objections

= 16 categories

EXTEMP SCORES

What is an Extemp Score?

In awarding an Extemp score, a judge will assess a team’s ability to master the following skills:

    - Raise timely and appropriate objections;

    - Respond to objections with poise;

    - Answer the presiding judge’s questions during the POA articulately and coherently;

    - Incorporate trial testimony and evidence into examinations and closings, particularly if the incorporation seems unique, extemporaneous and organic;

    - Rebut a substantive point made by an adversary at trial; and;

    - Handle adversity with poise and maturity.

We communicate to judges that a team is not required to raise objections if there are no grounds on which to raise them. Refraining from raising frivolous objections is also a part of a judge's extemp calculus. Overall, judges are encouraged to grade the students on their ability to exhibit appropriate discretion when objecting, whether that means raising germane substantive objections, or refraining from making unnecessary objections.

8 or 12 Ballot Record

Your record at Empire will be out of 8 or 12 wins.

There are three primary categories that drive a team’s record at Empire: wins (ballots captured), strength of schedule (quality of your opponents) and point differential (the margin of your wins and losses).

If 2 teams win the same number of ballots, then we’ll break the tie by looking at strength of schedule (SOS); if 2 teams have the same number of wins and SOS points, we’ll look at PD. Tied ballots are allowed and will count as ½ of a win.

RECORDS

Wins (Ballots)
Number of ballots captured.

    - Your record is based on the # of ballots (scorecards) your team wins, not “round wins.”
      - Ex: If you win 2 out of 3 ballots in round 1, then your record is 2-1, not 1-0.


    - If your Empire competition features 2 judges per round, then your record is out of 8.
      - 4 rounds X 2 ballots per round = 8


    - If your Empire competition features 3 judges per round, then your record is out of 12.
      - 4 rounds X 3 ballots per round = 12


Strength of Schedule (SOS)
Strength of your schedule.

    - To calculate SOS, we look at the number of ballots that your opponents have captured.

    - We keep a running tally of your SOS throughout the competition, which you can view.
    (Ex: At the end of 4 rounds, you’ve faced Teams X, Y, Z and Q, who have captured 5, 7, 9 and 10 ballots, respectively. That means your total SOS is 31–the sum of their wins)


Point Differential (PD)
The margin of your wins / losses.

    - A 20 point win is more impressive than a 5 point win. When breaking a tie, point differential provides us with a way to reward teams with higher win margins.

    - We keep a running tally of your PD throughout the competition, which you can view.
    (Ex: In Round 1, you won 2 ballots by 5 points and 10 points, respectively, and lost 1 ballot by 20 points. That means your PD is -5 (5+10-20) after Round 1.)


Empire will use additional tie-breakers if 2 teams have identical records (after considering the above criteria).

Rules & Procedures

We believe that in order to operate a competition that is educational, it is essential to have rules and procedures that are easy to understand, exhaustive and transparent. To that end, we make our competition materials available online year round, and divide our materials into three separate documents, each of which has chapters to help teams navigate their content. 

We will release this year’s edition of the Evidence Ordinance and Rules of Procedure no later than July 15.

Empirion Evidence Ordinance

Lists all objections that a team may raise during the mock trial, which includes issues of form (e.g. leading) and substance (e.g. hearsay). Our evidentiary rules are very similar to the Federal Rules of Evidence, but the rules that we include change slightly each year based on the case, to make them more manageable for students (e.g. we may remove the subsequent remedial measures rule if it’s not applicable to the year’s case). Teams that excel at Empire have a strong grasp on these rules and their application.  

Rules of Procedure

A compilation of rules that govern court proceedings in the state of Empirion, like time limits and communication restrictions during a trial. It also explains procedures for raising rule violations that may arise before, during and after a team’s mock trial. Students are expected to be well-versed in Empirion’s procedural rules.