VOLUNTEER as a
JUDGE or JUROR
from Home or the Office
May 16-17 or May 30-31 (Prelims)
June 6-7 (Playoffs)
All trials are online! Register TODAY.
The Spring Leagues
We want any high school that is interested in competing against schools from outside of their state to have the opportunity to do so.
Historically, only one school that wins their statewide competition advances to Nationals, and only schools that receive financial support from their communities are able to travel to fall competitions, like ours.
So we created the Spring Leagues: two online competitions (the Sapphire & Premier), organized by experience level, that are available to any school from across the globe at little to no cost.
View the Spring online trial schedule below and please sign up volunteer today!
The Schedule
Ready to join us? Register today.
What do I need in order to Judge?
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We ask that you not judge on a mobile device or tablet;
Note: We recommend selecting the largest screen / monitor you have available to watch the trial
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A computer that has the Zoom application downloaded on it. In other words, one that meets Zoom’s system requirements;
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Internet that is fast enough to support Zoom (read more here)—please test your internet connectivity before the trial;
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Ability to print an Empire Mock Trial scorecard—while you’ll input all scores on the computer, we want you to have a hard copy of your scorecard in case of a technology failure;
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Tech issues are inevitable and we all need to be patient and accepting them of them!
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A second electronic device—it can be a laptop, mobile phone or tablet—to score the trial, while you are watching the students on your primary device.
How Does Online Mock Trial Work?
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Students present from their own devices, located in either their home, school, or wherever they choose to setup their virtual courtroom.
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Trials take place via Zoom. Each side calls three witnesses at trial.
Case materials are typical Empire-originals and rotate between criminal and civil every year.
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We create a custom weblink for each judge and juror with everything you’ll need to volunteer on competition day.
Including: Case materials, Option to check-in, Link for judge orientation (Zoom meeting room), Digital ballot to score the trial and provide written feedback for the students, Link for virtual courtroom (also a Zoom meeting room).
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At the end of the trial, Empire’s PROcess software will tabulate the results and make your scores and written feedback available to the students.
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Each trials last 2.5 - 3 hours and is preceded by a 30 minute orientation—you should expect to spend approximately 4 hours volunteering.
Earning NY CLE Credits
New York based attorneys are eligible to earn (3) CLE credits for completing the three parts of judging online mock trial:
Attend orientation
Judge the trial
Offer post-round feedback
Credits are subject to the following restrictions:
The CLE credits are non-transitional (not for newly admitted attorneys, see here)
You cannot earn more than (3) CLE credits for judging more than one trial (NYSBA rules, not ours)
Certificates are e-mailed 6-8 weeks after the competition