Judge

Here is a link to our RULES TAB.

In general, any high school graduate with experience in mock trial coaching or competition, or real-life legal experience, is allowed to volunteer. Volunteering does not constitute a guarantee of being accepted to judge.

A high school graduate means someone who has received their diploma or equivalent and no longer attends high school.

All judges should be familiar with all rules described on our website’s rules page before entering.

Judges will have an opportunity to have a Q&A meeting the week leading up to each competition. If they can’t make that meeting, they’ll be sent a recording of it.

Before a judge is allowed to view rounds, they’ll need to submit a registration form. This will require them to fill out an in-depth paradigm describing their mock trial experience and preferences.

Judges are not entitled to behave inappropriately, which includes (but is not limited to) making comments that are discriminatory, suggestive, belittling, or otherwise pose a risk to the mental or emotional well-being and development of students.

Judges will be nominated at the end of the tournament for Outstanding Judge awards. Students will nominate their judges based on the quality of their verbal and written feedback. Judges who receive multiple nominations will be honored with certificates.

Do NOT score competitors up or down based on their accents. There are plenty of international students. Students should not be penalized for not speaking with a General American accent.

Your ballot will not automatically populate with names until the contestants submit their captains’ meetings forms.

Presiders AND scoring judges should have videos on at all times in the round.

You should not attempt to complete your ballot or view the round from your phone. A laptop or desktop setup will make things easier.

We expect to have two judges in every round. One will preside, one will score. This means not every judge will be used in every round. We expect there to be some no-shows, so we’re thankful for so many volunteers for giving us a buffer. We’ll prioritize putting in judges who are only available for one round and judges who don’t have conflicts.

Primary contacts will be sent your tab login information.

15 minutes before the round, students should begin logging on to the Zoom calls.

Once students are on the calls, they should go to their breakout rooms.

Once in the breakout rooms, captains should share any demonstratives with each other. Captains should also fill out their captains’ form.

Judges, please stay in the main room until you’re told where to go. Judges will be assigned to their rooms.

After judges perform a conflict check, wait for the all-clear. When the all-clear is given, the round can start.

After all ballots are submitted, judges can give verbal comments.