© 2024 Cornell University, All Rights Reserved
Who We Are
The Cornell University Mock Trial Association is a nationally competitive, entirely student-run trial-simulation program that sends multiple teams and dozens of Cornell students to competitions across the US every single year. In the spring semester, our teams consistently succeed at the regional and semifinal levels to compete at the National Final Tournament. In recent years, representing Cornell university on a national stage, our teams have earned numerous individual awards, repeatedly won first place at the semifinal level, and have placed as well as third in the nation at the national competition. This spring, we are once again aiming high and will continue to uphold Cornell Mock Trial’s legacy of competitive excellence at all levels of competition.
Skills We Build
As an organization, we are firm believers of the idea that competitive success begins and ends outside of the courtroom. Because of that, we are committed to training our members to advocate for themselves and those around them for the years they spend at Cornell and for the rest of their lives. Being a part of Mock Trial not only builds skills in writing, public speaking, and creative thinking but also invites you to be a part of a lifelong community of highly motivated and tightly linked individuals. While many of our members go on to careers in various public and private legal sectors, we have alumni across the US and around the world working in physics research, education, clinical psychology, and many other fields. For us, Cornell Mock Trial is more than just a pre-law organization or a competitive program: it is a family.
We Need You
This November, we need your help.
As a result of recent changes in the way student organizations are funded at Cornell, our budget has been reduced to less than half the normal amount. While we have continued to work as hard as usual to prepare for competition, we have already had to slash the number of tournaments we competed at in the Fall and are currently unable to afford the plane tickets, hotels, and other costs associated with competing at the semifinal and national level in the coming months. We have already had to use almost all of our available resources outside of Cornell’s funding and will likely be in an even more difficult financial position for years to come.
Your support could be the deciding factor in whether or not we are able to keep the legacy of Cornell Mock Trial alive.
With a gift of $25, we can print out 1 case packet (about 200 pages each, some in color). These packets contain information necessary to compete and are part of the physical items that we must bring to tournaments. In any given year, we will need to print about 20 case packets.
With a gift of $50, we can pay for gas for 1 car to get to and from most nearby tournaments. For all tournaments, we need to bring at least 2 cars to carry all competitors and materials.
With a gift of $75-100, we can begin to create and print posters and graphics to give our arguments visual excitement and concisely summarize information. Having several posters and graphics for each team is an important part of succeeding at higher levels of competition.
With a gift of $250, we can cover the registration fee for one team to attend a fall invitational tournament.
With a gift of $400, we can book 1 hotel room for 2 nights, four people, and a weekend of competition. For each team that travels to a tournament we need to book 2 hotel rooms. Across all fall and spring tournaments, we usually spend around $5200 on hotels alone, striking a balance between economy and giving our teams enough tournament experience to be competitive in the spring.
With a gift of $750, we can cover our annual registration fee with the American Mock Trial Association to compete as a school and send three teams to the spring regional round of competition.
With a gift of $1500 or more, we can fully cover the expenses for 1 of our teams to compete in a weekend tournament. We aim to send our teams to tournaments at least 12 times in any given year.