The Imperialism Debates Day 1 Impressions

Let’s see if I can keep this up for the next week.

Today, we had the mock trials on the Indian Mutiny for Champaca, Jasmin, and Camia. Here are some of my non-spoilery (I don’t want to influence the judges too much with my comments) thoughts.

CHAMPACA, INDIA

The nerves were so strong in this inaugural trial and I can hardly blame them. Everyone was feeling their way in the beginning, but I think Jason was able to find his footing the earliest. This year, I really emphasized the preparation of the witnesses and it has clearly paid off. The quality of the witnesses, even at this very early stage, is already so much better. (I’ve had trials before where the witnesses knew nothing and I just ended up sermoning the class.)

I am looking forward to the next trials. I saw that the teams were really paying attention and took a lot of notes on how to conduct themselves. And I know for a fact that some lawyers in the next trials have been working their asses off and are out for blood. I’m optimistic that Champaca is like a diesel engine: It’ll take a while to start-up but will pack a lot of power at their peak. (They did win the KKKwiz so I’m sure there’s more from where that came from!)

JASMIN, INDIA

This trial was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t too confident of the preparation of one team during the pre-trial phase, but wow. Both teams were pretty good today! The match turned out to be more even than I thought, and I can say now that this was the most competitive trial today. The witnesses were ready and each one made sense, but the lawyers were the ones who really put everything together, particularly Marti who even frightened Bianca at one point. Liana was also particularly sharp — a quality I’d like to see more in the other lawyers.

CAMIA, INDIA

Based on what I saw during the pre-trial, I was expecting this to be the hottest contest for today. However, it turned out to be not as tight as I thought. The real star in this trial were the witnesses, particularly Dennis who earned today’s Play of the Day with his crude comment about a dictionary and the definition of the mutiny (the actual words will remain only for those who actually heard it). It was a playful comment, yes, but it injected something that these mock trials badly needed: energy. Since that point, things moved at a brisker and even more competitive pace. Good job to the teams!

IN SUMMARY

It’s too early to present an over-all assessment of anything, but here are some things I want to see and hear in the upcoming trials:

• Judges take a firmer control of the trial itself. I’d like to see more discipline in the time it takes lawyers to ask questions.
• More dueling between lawyers. As an observer today put it, “The lawyers are too soft.” I want to see more objections and counter-objections together with thunder and lightning. Here’s a tip: If you want to learn the dark arts of lawyering, look up the judge and lawyers from Champaca 2012.
• Louder voices. Self-explanatory.

Good luck to the teams on Tuesday!

P.S.

A lot of 2012 have been bugging me about the schedule. Here goes:

Tuesday

• 7:30 Camia, China
• 8:20 Dahlia, India
• 10:00 Ilang, Inda

Wednesday

• 7:30 Jasmin, China
• 8:20 Champaca, China
• 10:50 Ilang, China

Thursday

• 7:30 Dahlia, China
• 8:20 Jasmin, Japan
• 9:10 Camia, Japan

Friday

• 7:30 Champaca, Japan
• 8:20 Dahlia, Japan
• 10:00 Ilang, Japan