Volunteer as a Judge or Juror
May 17-18 & June 7-8
ALL ONLINE
Have fun. Make a difference. Judge mock trial.
Ready to sign-up?
Why the Spring Leagues?
It is the only high school mock trial competition of its kind in the country, bringing together students from across the globe for a program that has nearly no financial barriers to entry.
In 2023, we realized that online mock trial—a vestige of the pandemic—could help ensure that any student that wishes to compete against their peers nationally could have the opportunity to do so. Previously, only one school that won its statewide competition advanced to Nationals, and only schools that received financial support from their communities were able to travel to national tournaments.
So we created the Spring Leagues: two online competitions, organized by experience level, that are available to any school from across the globe at little to no cost. In fact, entry is free for schools located in economically disadvantaged communities.
Being a part of the Spring Leagues means empowering a group of high school students to grow as thinkers and citizens, while enjoying the fun that is mock trial!
Learn more below and sign up today.
The Schedule
How Does Online Mock Trial Work?
Students present from their own devices, located in either their home, school, or wherever they choose to setup their virtual courtroom.
Trials take place via Zoom.
Each side calls three witnesses at trial.
This year’s case is inspired by the tragic submersible that imploded at sea—it is an Empire original case.
We create a custom weblink for each judge and juror (hopefully, you), which will provide everything you’ll need to volunteer on competition day:
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)
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.
Each trials last 2.5 - 3 hours and is preceded by a 30 minute orientation—you should expect to spend approximately 4 hours volunteering.
Ready to sign-up?
What Do I Need to Judge?
A laptop or desktop computer. 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
A computer that has the Zoom application downloaded on it. In other words, one that meets Zoom’s system requirements;
Internet that is fast enough to support Zoom (read more here)—please test your internet connectivity before the trial;
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;
Patience! 😊 Tech issues are inevitable and we all need to be patient and accepting them of them!
What Do I Not Need But Would Enhance My Judging Experience?
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.
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 and offer post-round feedback). The 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