On February 7-8, 2015, USAID, Dagon University, DLA Piper/New Perimeter, Herbert Smith Freehills, UNDP, and BABSEACLE will be co-organizing and hosting the Inaugural National Myanmar CLE Mock Trial Event. (click here to also read the UNDP Myanmar press release)

Mock trial is a practical learning experience in which students simulate a local court trial of a minor civil dispute or criminal offence.  Mock trial allows students to develop legal, analytical and advocacy skills, thereby increasing familiarity with court process and enhancing participants’ appreciation and understanding of legal ethics.  The focus of the Mock Trial Event is the development of these clinical legal education (CLE) outcomes. As such, the structure used for this Mock Trial Event will not strictly adhere to local procedure in Myanmar, but has been modelled to facilitate the development of CLE outcomes in a practical setting.

Event Details

The Event will involve a minimum of two (2) LL.B. student participants from each of the  eighteen (18) Myanmar law departments located nationwide.  It is being organized as a means to further strengthen each of these university law department’s CLE programmes and their approaches to teaching.  In order to participate in the Mock Trial Event, students must be actively involved and committed to the university CLE programmes.  The students must also have a working knowledge of the English language as the Event will be conducted in English, which is the required instructional language of all Myanmar university law departments.

There will be three (3) Mock Trial rounds which will be conducted in the following manner:

Round 1-February 7, 2015 (Morning)

Round 1 will have 8 teams (4 Prosecution and 4 Defence).  The teams will be made up of a mixture of students from different Myanmar university law departments.  Scoring of each team will occur and members of the strongest four (4) teams will advance to Round 2.

Round 2-February 7, 2015 (Afternoon)

Round 2 will have 4 teams (2 Prosecution and 2 Defence). The teams will be made up of a mixture of students from different Myanmar university law departments.  As much as possible, the teams will have different members than those who participated together on the same team during Round 1.  When at all reasonably possible, Round 2 team members will be placed in different roles than they had during Round 1. Scoring of each team will occur and members of the strongest two (2) teams will advance to Round 3 (Final Round)

Round 3 (Final Round)-February 8, 2015 (Morning)

Round 3 will have 2 teams (1 Prosecution and 1 Defence). The teams will be made up of a mixture of students from different Myanmar university law departments.  As much as possible, the teams will have different members than those who participated together on the same team during Round 1 and Round 2.  When at all reasonably possible, Round 3 team members will be placed in different roles than they had during Round 1 and Round 2.  Scoring of each team will occur and members of the strongest team will be declared the Strongest Inaugural Myanmar National CLE Mock Trial Event Team.

Round 3 will be open to the public for viewing and will include a post event debrief of the participants and audience.

Judging

Each Mock Trial round will be scored by an odd numbered panel of a minimum of three judges (for example 3, 5, 7…) It is important to note that the judges are not judging the facts of the case or the guilt or innocence of the accused.  The facts of the case have been written in a way to be relatively balanced.  The judges are judging the way each team uses the facts of the case to their advantage, as well as the ways the teams and individual members perform.

It is expected that the judges will come from the various parts of the justice sector (both local and international) including judges, advocates (lawyers), teachers, law officers (prosecutors), Government Administrative Department (GAD), and civil society members.  All judges must have an English language working knowledge and ability.

Event Support

This Mock Trial Event is part of a nationwide clinical legal education, Rule of Law/ Access to Justice, programme that Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia Community Legal Education Initiative (BABSEACLE), Herbert Smith Freehills and DLA Piper/New Perimeter are assisting in implementing.  This is being done in partnership with, and through the support of, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the USAID-sponsored Promoting the Rule of Law Project (PRLP).  The nationwide CLE programme was developed in consultation with Myanmar’s Ministry of Education and hopes to provide practical guidance for all eighteen (18) university law departments across Myanmar to develop and implement accredited CLE programmes and apply CLE student-centered, reflective practice, interactive teaching methods.

The Organizers of the event gratefully acknowledge the invaluable assistance of the Law Society of New South Wales in developing the Mock Trial Event materials.

 

INAUGURAL MYANMAR NATIONAL CLE MOCK TRIAL EVENT

AGENDA

DAGON UNIVERSITY, YANGON, MYANMAR

FEBRUARY 7-8, 2015

Time	Session
Day 1 – 7th February, 2015
8:00 am – 8:30 am	Registration
8:30 am – 9:30 am	Opening Ceremony and Introduction
9:30 am – 12:30 pm	Round I (4 Mock Trials)
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm	Lunch & Preparation for Round II
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm	Round II (2 Mock Trial)
5:00 pm – 5:30 pm	Teams Assigned for Round III
Day 2 – 8th February, 2015
8:00am – 8:30 am	Registration
8:30 am – 9;30 am	Opening for Final Round
9:30 am – 12:30 pm	Round III (Final Round)
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm	Closing Ceremony and Lunch