Final Trials
At the end of each semester, the Civil and Criminal Trial Advocacy courses feature a final mock trial which takes place in the Montgomery County Courthouse in Rockville, Maryland, with trial court judges presiding. To further enhance the realism of this final trial, the Program uses outside witnesses and enlists the assistance of local high schools to provide jurors for all of the final mock trials. The result is an environment that gives the students an opportunity to work before a jury, and provides local high school students the opportunity to better understand the workings of the legal system.
Participation of American University's School of Communications
Professor John Watson, who has both J.D. and Ph.D. degrees, and 20 of his graduate students who are enrolled in his journalism seminar in the American University School of Communications participated in the final trials of Civil Trial Advocacy at the end of the Spring, 2008 semester. The journalism seminar prepares graduate students to report on civil and criminal trials. Professor Watson's students also interviewed the law students "in character". The interviews provided the law students an opportunity to put in context the ethical rules they have learned regarding the interaction of counsel and the media.
Each student in Professor Watson's seminar wrote a "news article" on the trial they observed. These articles were not be published, but were be used for academic purposes.