Rules
The complete Empire Rules of Evidence and Procedure can be downloaded below. You’ll also find information regarding Team Structure, Scoring, Pairing, Placement and Individual Awards. Please feel free to contact us if any of the rules are unclear.
Case Information
The Empire cases were originally created for use by the American Mock Trial Association (“AMTA” is the governing body of collegiate mock trial) and adapted for competition by EMTA. The case file consists of eight witness affidavits (four for each side), but each side may only call three witnesses to the stand in a given round. Lineups are announced in a pre-trial meeting (called a captains’ meeting), held 30 minutes prior to trial.
The case is released to registered teams on or about July 15th, giving them the majority of the summer to prepare for competition.
In the past, the Empire has featured both criminal and civil cases.
Team Structure
Each team at the Empire may consist of at least six students, but no more than twelve. Schools are required to prepare both a prosecution/plaintiff and defense side of the case. Each side consists of three student attorneys and three student witnesses. 
No student may occupy more than one role per side, therefore one side must consist of six different students. A team, however, may choose to have its students “double”; meaning, a student may perform roles on both sides of the case. For example, Joe Smith is permitted to portray a prosecution attorney and defense witness, however he is not permitted to permitted to portray a prosecution attorney and a prosecution witness. Joe Smith could also portray a prosecution attorney and defense attorney, however he is not permitted to fill two prosecution attorney roles. Each attorney must perform only one direct examination and one cross examination. Using the aforementioned example, Joe Smith, as a prosecution attorney, may not direct and cross two witnesses in a given trial, while Mary Jane, his co-counsel, silently sits beside him.
The attorney that performs the opening statement may not deliver the closing argument.
While pre-trial may be used for the purposes of stating appearances for the record, marking exhibits and offering courtesy copies of documents to the bench, a separate, fourth attorney may not be designated for pre-trial. The attorney who handles pre-trial must be one of the three attorneys on the given side.
Scoring
All rounds at the Empire are judged and scored by practicing New York attorneys. Each round features three judges, each of whom scores the round. The presiding judge rules on objections and oversees the proceeding, while the other two act as the jury.
Each scoring judge is given a scorecard (“blue ballot”) and a comment sheet. The scorecards determine a team’s subsequent pairing in the tournament and eventual placement. The comment sheets are strictly for the reference of the respective teams and do not impact a team’s standing in the tournament. Each scorecard consists of fourteen categories, accompanied by a scoring criteria. Students are graded on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the top score a competitor can be awarded for performance. Each student attorney receives at least two scores, one for direct examination and one for cross examination. The student attorney who delivers the opening and closing statement also receives a score for their performance. Unlike the National High School Mock Trial Championship (“NHSMTC”), witnesses are scored for their performance on both direct and cross. The maximum score a team can achieve on a single ballot is 140 points.
At the conclusion of the trial, the team with the higher overall point total is awarded the ballot. If both teams receive identical scores, the ballot is considered a tie.
Pairing Rounds
Each team must present its prosecution/plaintiff and defense sides of the case twice.
Starting in 2011, the Invitational will feature two divisions of 18 teams. During the first four rounds of competition, teams may only face a team that is in their own division.
Round 1 match-ups are determined by a Challenge Order in each division. Prior to the tournament, the Admission’s Committee seeds all of the teams based upon their 2011 placement. Starting from the top of the list, the first ranked team chooses the team it would like to face in Round 1. The “challengee” — the team challenged — is then removed from the order and loses their right to challenge; however, they are permitted to chose their side in Round 1. For example, if the Leigh Academy (ranked #1) challenges the Alter Institute (ranked #2), the Alter Institute would then picks its side (prosecution/plaintiff or defense), but subsequently loses its right to challenge. The challenge order would then skip to the third place team. This process continues until there are only two teams remaining.
In Round 2, all teams in the tournament switch sides; so if a team prosecuted in Round 1, they will defend in Round 2. Once sides are determined, the teams are ranked according to their records. Thus, the team with the highest record on the prosecution/plaintiff will face the team with the highest record on the defense, so on and so forth. This is known as “power pairing” and ensures that the eventual Empire World Champion faced the toughest competition at the tournament to earn that title.
In Round 3, there are no side constraints. Teams are again paired based on their overall record, with the highest records facing the highest and the lowest records facing the lowest. Sides are determined by a single coin flip.
Round 4 follows the same pairing process, with each team switching sides from Round 3.
Team Placement
Teams are ranked according to their record. A team’s record consists of the number of ballots won and tied. Tied ballots are worth half a win. If, for example, a team won two ballots and tied a third in Round 1, their record would be 2.5. Since there are three scoring judges in each round and there are four rounds in the tournament, a team can achieve a maximum record of 12-0.
At the conclusion of four rounds of competition, the top two teams in each division face off in the Championship Round while the two second place teams battle in a Placement Round. For both of the rounds, the team with the higher record gets to choose its side.
In the event that two teams have the same record, they will then be ranked according to their respective combined strength (“CS”). CS measures the difficulty of the team’s schedule and is calculated by adding up the records of the team’s four opponents.
Individual Awards
The top ten student attorneys and witnesses, as voted by their judges, are honored at the Empire Awards’ Ceremony.
A ranking system is used to determine our outstanding competitors. At the bottom of each scorecard, judges are required to rank the top four attorneys and witnesses in the round. Each placement is worth a designated amount of points. A student attorney or witness ranked first by a judge receives five points, second receives four points, third receives three points and fourth receives two points. Since there are three scoring judges per round, the maximum number of ranks a student can attain is 15. Since each student competes on a given side twice during the tournament, the maximum number of ranks a student can attain for an Outstanding Empire Award is 30. Those student competitors who compete on both sides of the case are eligible for awards on each side.
At the conclusion of four rounds of competition, the ten student attorneys and witnesses who receive the highest amount of ranks are honored for their performance (top five attorneys and witnesses in each division). In the case of a tie for tenth place between two students or among several, the student competing on the team with the higher record receives the award. The highest honor a student can receive at the Empire is the New York City’s Finest Award, which honors the top attorney and witness at the tournament. These awards are bestowed upon the student attorney and witness who earn the highest ranks at the Empire, collectively. It considers the combined ranks of those students who compete on both sides of the case.
