1
For example, see the American Mock Trial Association Web site at
www.collegemocktrial.org, or the American Collegiate Moot Court Association Web site at
honors.uta.edu/mootcourt/.
2
See, for example, some of the simulations at the International Communications and
Negotiation Simulations (ICONS) Project at the University of Maryland, www.icons.umd.edu.
3
Introduction
The use of simulations and role-playing exercises in the political science curriculum is well
established. These experiential techniques allow the instructor to enrich students’ learning by
stimulating creative and analytical thinking as well as appealing to differing learning styles. In the
subfield of public law, these exercises are frequently employed by professors in both curricular and
extracurricular formats (Ringel and Fair 2004; Knerr and Sommerman 2001; Bowers and Daniels
1998; Vile and Van Dervort 1994; Pacelle 1989). That is, judicial simulations may be used as part
of a course or may be an extracurricular activity wherein participants travel to tournaments around
the country.
1
Indeed, the very content of public law classes lends itself well to simulations and role-
playing exercises–with a little training, it is relatively easy for students to simulate a simplified trial
or appellate argument. At the graduate level, law schools have used judicial simulations for decades
to train budding lawyers.
At the undergraduate level, legal role-playing exercises come in two forms: moot court,
which simulates the appellate court process, and mock trial, which simulates the trial process.
However, the constant in both of these configurations is that exclusively American legal procedures
are utilized and simulated. Although role-playing exercises in international relations and
comparative politics courses commonly require students to simulate foreign processes and
institutions,
2
international legal simulations are virtually unheard of in the area of law and courts.
Convention