Navigating Objections in Mock Trials: Three Common Mistakes to Avoid (by Sulaymaan Ali)

Objections are double-edged swords in mock trial. They can strengthen your case when used wisely, or they can backfire when mishandled. Let's dive into three common objection mistakes and learn how to steer clear of them.

Speaking Objections

• What is a speaking objection and why is it a mistake?

  • A speaking objection is when you start launching into your objection argument without asking to be heard.

  • Here is an example of the speaking objection:

    • Witness: Jim was super angry and I could tell that he wanted to kill the victim.

    • Attorney: Objection, speculation. This witness is stepping into Jim’s mindset.

  • In real trials, judges are very careful about controlling what the jury and witnesses hear. They don’t want witnesses or the jury to be wrongly influenced by things that attorneys say in objection arguments, which could lead to a mistrial. That’s why you should leave it up to the judge to figure out how to proceed after you make your objection.

  • The judge may not want an explanation if they think it’s obvious why the testimony should be sustained or overruled.

  • Most importantly, many judges hate speaking objections!

• Key Takeaway: How should you object instead?

  • State the objection. (eg. “Objection, speculation.)

  • If you want to explain your objection, ask to be heard. (Eg. Objection, speculation. May I be heard?)

Not Striking Testimony after Sustained Objections

• What is striking testimony from the record?

  • In real trials, the ‘record’ refers to a comprehensive documentation of everything that came out during the trial. If a witness’ testimony is stricken from the record after a sustained objection, the judge will ask the jury to disregard the witness’ testimony, and it will also be documented as stricken for appellate judges to look at if the case is appealed. However, Mock Trial judges often won't automatically strike testimony from the record. They do this to see if you know how to request it.

• Key Takeaway: How should you ask for testimony to be stricken after you won an objection?

  • Judge: Objection sustained.

  • Attorney: “Your Honor, we move to strike the offending testimony” or “Your Honor, motion to strike the offending testimony?”

• Further advice:

  • If the judge sustained your objection to a question and the witness hadn’t answered yet, you don’t need to move to strike.

    • Example:

      • Attorney 1 (on direct examination): You were speaking to your manager at 5pm on the 4th of July right?

      • Witness: Uh, I –

      • Attorney 2: Objection, leading.

      • Judge: Objection sustained.

  • Don’t do the pretrial shortcut.

    • You might have seen teams in pretrial asking “should we assume that testimony is stricken after a sustained objection or should we move to strike.” I don’t recommend the shortcut because, in my experience, a Mock Trial judge will almost always answer that you should move to strike. Plus, you don’t want testimony to be automatically stricken – you can differentiate yourself from other teams if you’re the one striking things from the record and they aren’t.

Making Too Many Objections

• How many objections are too many?

  • Some coaches say it’s more than three, while others say that it’s any time you make an objection where you aren’t 100% sure that you’re right. You’ll hear many takes on this, but the bottom line is that many scorers will get annoyed if they think you’re being frivolous, and they’ll reward your opponents if they respond to you correctly. Often, it’s better to ‘quit while you're ahead’ – this is the idea that once you’ve come out of an objection looking stronger than your opponent, you should be very careful about making any more objections because you’ve already proved to the scorers that you’re stronger on evidence than your opponent. If you object again and it flops, you risk allowing your opponent to recover points. Always keep in mind that objections aren’t just an opportunity for you to score – they’re also an opportunity for your opponent.

• Key takeaway: Only make an objection if you think it’ll give you a good chance of coming out of it ahead of your opponent.

• Further advice:

  • In my experience, excessive objections are the number one reason for why a team hits all-loss or gets close to hitting all-loss (because objections don’t have time limits).

In the world of mock trial, mastering objections doesn't happen overnight—it's a skill that comes with experience. Keep these common mistakes in mind and continue to learn from each trial. With time and practice, handling objections will become second nature.