1. A fictitious trial organized to allow law students, or sometimes lawyers, to practice the techniques of trial advocacy.
2. A fictitious trial, arranged by a litigant’s attorney, to assess trial strategy, to estimate the case’s value or risk, and to evaluate the case’s strengths and weaknesses. • In this procedure, people from the relevant jury pool are hired to sit as mock jurors who, after a condensed presentation of both sides, deliberate and reach a verdict (often while being observed by the participants behind a one-way glass). The jurors may later be asked specific questions about various arguments, techniques, and other issues. Because the mock jurors usu. do not know which side has hired them, their candid views are thought to be helpful in formulating trial strategies. Cf. MOOT COURT.
