Hello!

The following are a few links which may be helpful in preparing for your audition. You are not

required to view these but if you do not have a background in mock trial these will serve as a

good start. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]

How to Public Speak Effectively

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXWBmvQrgiE

t=3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rGygbziMcg&list=LLcqfF8IPi8s0PYGc29AzZqg&index=34&

t=0s

May 11, 2018. It’s dark outside, about 9 in the evening. A woman named Ms. Florrick is

walking into a theater with her family. 2 hours later, she emerges from a movie and goes to use

the restroom. She walks into the restroom and is killed.

[Case-in-Chief]

You’ll hear the facts of the case are this: No one saw the murder. No one saw the murderer.

There are no witnesses. The murder weapon is a common household object that could have been

in the possession of any person: a common kitchen knife. No one is sure what happened.

With no witnesses and no leads, with no way to narrow down the suspect to someone



, you’ll hear

Mr. Canning was sitting in a different building, in a theater across the street, watching a different

movie. Mr. Canning wasn’t anywhere near that restroom, and what’s more, Mr. Canning can

prove it. You’ll hear Mr. Canning has a movie ticket proving his location, and an eyewitness

who can testify that Mr. Canning was not anywhere near Ms. Florrick during the murder.

[Closing]

What happened to Ms. Florrick is terrible, no one here is denying that. But what happened after,

has compounded one senseless tragedy with another. The prosecution rushed to blame someone,

anyone

facts and the evidence. Today, we hope that you will consider this case more carefully. Which is

audition.

· The labels (e.g., “Hook” “Case-in-chief” “Closing”) are only included to help you

understand the structure of an opening so you can write one on your own if you choose. Please

don’t say these labels out loud when performing your opening.

· Finally, genders are not assigned in the character list, so feel free to pick the gender of each

of the characters. Do not feel that your genders need to match the ones picked in this example.

[Hook] – A hook is a short, catchy introduction to the case. Imagine writing the opening to a

great novel. What is a sentence or two that would immediately engross the jurors in the story of

this case?

[Case-in-chief] – The case-in-chief is the meat of your opening. You want to give the jury an

shotgun at the crime scene similar to the one Ms. Anderson owned, but you will also hear that

Ms. Anderson’s DNA was not on that gun.”).

Once you’ve gotten your pieces of information together, the best way to write this section is as

though you’re telling a story to someone who’s never heard the case before. KISS (keep it

simple, speaker.) You only have a few minutes total to explain an hours-long case, so think of

this as a big-picture roadmap for the jury. You want to follow a chronological timeline and

highlight specific pieces of information that the jury should listen for. In an opening statement, it

is common to preference sentences with “The evidence will show…” or “You will hear…” to

avoid being too argumentative.

[Closing] – The closing is a sentence or two summarizing your case-in-chief. AKA - “tell the

jurors what you just told them”. In your last sentence, you should make a plea for what you want

the jurors to do at the end of the case. E.g., “That’s why, at the end of today’s case, my

co-council Ms. Bach will come before you and ask you to find Ms. Anderson not