It is a great privilege and honor to announce the return of the Empire City Invitational. Last year's Empire was an incredible learning experience for all those that attended. This year's invitational will be hosted by the THS Mock Trial Association, Inc., a not-for-profit organization created to raise money for the Tottenville High School Mock Trial team in their mission to host the best tournament possible. Over the past year, we have been working diligently to offer further amenities to all participants. Some of the improvements we have made include: t-shirts for interested students, improved individual awards, a traveling trophy for the winning team, a pizza night for all of the teams and a cruise around New York harbor.

Founded in 1898, Tottenville High School is located in suburban Staten Island, New York, one of the five boroughs which encompass New York City. The United States Department of Education has bestowed Tottenville High School as a School of National Excellence. Over the course of the last five years, the Tottenville High School Mock Trial Association has established itself as one of the premiere mock trial programs in New York City. Since the state of New York does not compete in the National Mock Trial Competition, the Empire City Invitational was created last year as an outlet for Tottenville students to compete against some of the top talent in the country.

This year, the THS Mock Trial Association is proud to announce that the CheongShim International Academy from South Korea will be making the long journey to New York City, to join us for this year's event. Eric J. Pollock, coach of the team, responded to an invitation extended to the South Korean Legal Education Coordinator, several months ago. The school is extremely excited to attend and will be sending two teams to the tournament.

Click the logo above to be taken to the school's official website.

Judging. The Empire City Invitational has a unique blend of judging. In any given round, you can have a U.S. Supreme Court judge, a practicing attorney or an undergraduate student that has competed in mock trial for the last 7 years. In an activity that is known for its subjectivity, we hope that this diverse pool of judges will ensure participants the most fair, comprehensive, informative comments and scoring possible.

Case. The case will be chosen specifically for the Empire. Last year's case was a simplified case used by the American Mock Trial Association, the governing body of collegiate mock trial, just a few years ago. There will be the possibility of different witness lineups in each round. Teams will have a possible 4 witnesses available to call in any given round, however they are only permitted to present 3. This emphasizes the importance of strategy and preparation. Lineups will be announced in a "captain's meeting", to be held 30 minutes before each round. It will be different. It will be challenging.

Team Composition. Each team will consist of 3 attorneys and 3 witnesses. Each attorney must perform one direct examination and one cross examination. The attorney that gives an opening statement cannot give a closing argument. One attorney cannot perform more than one direct or more than one cross examination. If an attorney attempts to perform a second cross examination they will receive a 0. One student cannot perform more then one witness role. If a student attempts to portray two witness roles in a given round, they will receive a 0 on direct and cross for their second performance. We apologize in advance for sounding harsh, however this was a problem that arose last year.

Rules. Each team will have the following time constraints: 5 minutes for opening, 25 minutes for direct questioning, 25 minutes for cross examination and 9 minutes for closing. The prosecution will have the opportunity to reserve the time remaining in their closing, up to 5 minutes, for a rebuttal argument. All trials will be governed by the Midlands Simplified Rules of Evidence. The rules are a simplified version of the collegiate rules, similar to the rules used by the National Championship Tournament. Rules will be distributed in the early months of the summer. Any questions or concerns brought to our attention will be responded to immediately.

Registration Fee. Registration will be $150 per team. All checks should be made payable to the THS Mock Trial Association, Inc. T-shirts and cruise will be provided at an additional cost.

Lodging. The official hotel for the Empire City Invitational is the New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge. The hotel is a five minute walk from the courthouse. Details will be released shortly regarding a group rate for the weekend.

Team Selection
The Empire City Invitational will host between 28-32 teams this year. As you can imagine, it is extremely difficult to determine what teams to invite to our tournament. Our goal is to host a tournament that contains friendly students, parents and coaches that are extremely passionate about mock trial. Due to the advanced nature of the tournament--evidentiary, procedurally as well as the case itself--it is important for us to find teams that are motivated, diligent, prepared and highly competitve. Accordingly, our first round of invitations have been carefully chosen and will be distributed over the upcoming weeks. We encourage interested teams to contact us as soon as possible, to have your school added to the waiting list. As we hear back from teams, we will extend invites, first, to those teams on our waiting list.

Schedule
Please note that captain's meeting will be held 30 minutes before every round. This is not a definitive schedule and is subject to change. However, this is what you should expect at the 2008 Empire City Invitational:

Friday, October 10
4:30 P.M. - Opening Ceremonies
5:30 P.M. - Round 1
8:45 P.M. - Pizza at the Courthouse

Saturday, October 11
10:00 A.M. - Round 2
2:30 P.M. - Round 3
7:00 P.M - Cruise of New York City Harbor

Sunday, October 12
10:00 A.M. - Round 4
1:30 P.M. - Awards Ceremony
2:00 P.M. - Championship Round

Attending Teams
This portion of the site will be updated with confirmed teams. Thus far, the field includes:

- Bishop Guertin High School: Nashua, New Hampshire (1 team)
- Bishop Lynch High School: Dallas, Texas (1 team)
- CheongShim International Academy: Ga-Pyeong, Gyeonggi province, Republic of Korea (2 teams)
- Tottenville High School: Staten Island, New York (1 team)
- Xavier College Preparatory: Phoenix, Arizona (1 team)

Inaugural Empire in Review
Testimonials. In our view, the best reflection of an event is hearing the opinion of those that attended. Here are testimonials from three coaches that attended the Empire last year:

- Brian Jackson; Bishop Guertin High School (Nashua, New Hampshire):

"We found the Empire City Invitational to be outstanding! The level of competiton was terrific, the accomodations were wonderful! The staff were highly efficient and knowledgeable of the law. The tour of Manahattan and Times Square was great. We are looking forward to competing again in October!"

- David Post; Bishop Lynch High School (Dallas, Texas):

"The Empire City Invitational was an amazing and constructive experience for myself and the team. Not only was the competition fierce, the critiques from NYU Law school students succinct and insightful, and the networking fruitful, having it in New York City was fantastic. The trials were held at almost the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge overlooking mid-town Manhattan, the hotel was first class all the way and there was sufficient down time to explore the wonders of the Big Apple. We are certainly going back next year and hope to do so for years to come."

- John Cosden; Xavier College Preparatory (Phoenix, Arizona):

"The invitational was top-notch all the way: great hotel, great court house, great people. We enjoyed meeting teams from all over the country. Yours and the Tottenville team's hospitality was evident from the first moment we met you. Special thanks.. for the Saturday night Manhattan walk [tour]. We are excitedly looking forward to the October, 2008 Empire City Invitational."

'07 Empire site. Contains photos, tab summary, list of attending teams and most importantly: the people that made it happen: Inaugural Empire.