Pictured: Madison West High School's plaintiff-side attorney Brynn Ronk (standing) questions a witness during the state final round of the 2024 High School Mock Trial Tournament. Joining her at the desk are team attorneys Emily Fenske (center) and Ari Blehert (left).
Nov. 20, 2024 – It was a shocking discovery: a participant in a national virtual reality video game competition, held in (the fictitious) Clearwater, Wisconsin, was found stabbed to death – and the victim’s biggest rival is charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
Was the long-standing animosity between these two competitors the reason?
Based on review of data collected from the video game program, it appears so. But the defendant insists on innocence and says the victim’s friend is the killer.
The 2025 Case: A Shocking Murder
The State Bar of Wisconsin’s 2025
High School Mock Trial Tournament is on – and students across Wisconsin must determine which player is guilty of homicide.
The State Bar’s
High School Mock Trial program teaches students how our system really works – by doing what lawyers do: try fictitious cases firmly grounded in the facts and the law, in front of a neutral arbiter. The tournament is made possible with grants from the
Wisconsin Law Foundation.
Volunteers – whether practicing attorneys or judges on the bench – are needed for competitions across Wisconsin in early February and in Madison this March (no experience is necessary).
This year’s case – written by the Mock Trial Casewriting Committee – is a dense one, said Kristen Lonergan, committee chair. “It is jam-packed with little nuggets of information that can help either side.”
That presents a challenge for the teams: there isn’t time to present all the information available to them. “Each team will need to unite on a single theory and deliberately go through the exercise of picking the best evidence that supports that theory, letting go of other potentially helpful pieces of evidence,” Lonergan said.
In writing a case taking place in the context of a video game, the committee members – Wisconsin attorneys – had their own challenges.
“By making a fictional video game one of the central parts of the case, we had to create this whole additional world inside the story of the case,” Lonergan said. “It required us to stretch our creative muscles while also discovering who among us was the most tech-savvy.”
The result: a “really fun and unique case,” she said. “I look forward to seeing how students present it.”
We Need Volunteer Judges: No Experience Necessary
Volunteers – whether practicing attorneys or judges on the bench – are needed in these regions: Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Juneau, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha, and Wausau.
Volunteer judges are needed for:
Statewide regional competitions on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. Sessions run in the morning (9 a.m. to noon) and afternoon (1 to 5 p.m.).
Semi-final competitions on Friday and Saturday, March 7 and 8, in Madison. Session times are Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m.
Generally, volunteers choose to be judges for either the morning or afternoon competitions, but you can choose to volunteer for both sessions!
The finals competition will be held on Sunday, March 9, in Madison.
To volunteer, visit the
Mock Trial volunteer page, and fill out the form. If you have questions, contact Katie Wilcox by
email or by phone at (608) 250-6191, or (800) 444-9404, ext. 6191.
New This Year: Courtroom Artist Competition
This year adds a new element to the tournaments: a courtroom artist competition.
Teams may bring additional members tasked with drawing a courtroom scene in real-time. The winning artist will be selected by their peers at the annual awards banquet following the semi-finals tournament. “We are really excited to get this new element up and running,” Lonergan said, “to get a new group of students involved in the court process.”
“We look forward to seeing the artistic talent of Wisconsin students on display,” Lonergan said.
Why Mock Trial Matters
Founded in 1983, the program helps students gain a deeper understanding of the legal system while developing leadership skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, public speaking, and working under pressure as part of a team. The program is a great pathway to the legal profession.
Last year, close to 100 teams competed in the High School Mock Trial regional tournament across Wisconsin. This year, the regional tournaments take place Feb. 1, 2025. The top two teams in each region – 20 teams – will go on to compete in the semi-final tournament March 7-8, with the top two teams competing in the state finals on March 9, 2025. The state finalist team will compete in the national tournament in Phoenix, Arizona, in May 2025.
Mock Trial: Funded by the Wisconsin Law Foundation
The Wisconsin High School Mock Trial Tournament is a State Bar of Wisconsin program funded by the
Wisconsin Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the State Bar.
The Wisconsin High School Mock Trial program is funded by a generous grant from the
Wisconsin Law Foundation, the charitable arm of the State Bar of Wisconsin, supporting law-related education and public service programs statewide. Donations to the Wisconsin Law Foundation’s Mock Trial Fund can be made online at
wisbar.org/wlfdonate.
