Dressed in a suit and tie and holding a bulging leather briefcase, Raleigh Halgren looked every bit the part of a prosecuting attorney prepared to enter a Seattle courtroom to lay the groundwork for a criminal prosecution in a murder case.
Even his demeanor reflected the gravity of the impending proceeding.
When the courtroom doors opened, Halgren, a University of Idaho political science senior from Rathdrum, would take his place before a judge and jury. He would begin what he had practiced for many months on the Moscow campus where he was coached by criminal attorney Addie Beplate and fellow political science students.
“It was a little nerve racking,” said Halgren, who plans to pursue a law degree.
He and a team of U of I students belong to a 400-level political science course that required them to participate in a mock trial event in Seattle. They would play both the role of prosecutors, defense attorneys or witnesses while displaying what they had learned of courtroom protocol and procedure while trying a murder case. They had for months studied details of the case that were provided by the American Mock Trial Association, an organization that strives to sharpen the skills of college students who plan to pursue a legal profession.
“We had practiced for several months, so I felt pretty confident,” said Halgren, this year’s co-captain of the U of I Mock Trial Team.
The 2025-26 school year was the first in which pre-law students had a formal mock trial team, in which students earned credits to prepare and participate in competitions.
“The mock trial team is one of the cornerstones of our department’s pre-law initiatives,” said Florian Justwan, an associate professor of political science and the department chair. “The mock trial program begins with a three-credit fall course taught by a practicing attorney in which students learn the foundations of courtroom procedure, rules of evidence, case theory and effective oral advocacy.”
It gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can do this, be a practicing attorney.
Erika Amaral
Undergraduate studying political science
Throughout the year, the team prepares for a regional intercollegiate tournament, and, during the spring semester, students travel to a competition where they present their case before practicing attorneys and judges. They face teams from universities across the United States, Justwan said.
The program offers hands-on experience for students interested in law, public speaking and critical thinking. The team is loosely affiliated with the University of Idaho Pre-Law Society.
Erika Amaral, a senior from Boise, grew up in a family that navigated the legal process that immigrants are required to have to stay and work in the United States.
During her primary and secondary school years she translated legal documents from English to Spanish for friends and relatives.
“I have a lot of family and friends that have gone through situations that inspired me to pursue law school,” she said.
Although the idea of attending U of I was at first intimidating, she found a cadre of like-minded students in Moscow who helped her continue her academic path.
“So many students helped me to get here, encouraging me to apply for scholarships, internships and join student organizations,” she said.
During junior year, Amaral received an internship to work in Sen. Mike Crapo’s office in Washington, D.C., she also worked in Boise through a McClure Center program and serves as the Pre-law Society president.
Her experience in the courtroom as a member of the mock trial team cemented her future, she said. She has applied to University of Idaho College of Law and a few others.
“It was definitely nerve-racking, but also exciting,” she said. “It gave me a lot of confidence to know that I can do this, be a practicing attorney.”
Mock trial students study a common case that is sent in a large binder to university mock trial teams. The binder contains all the legal documents that attorneys and judges see before a trial, including witness testimony, reports from police, affidavits and discovery items to help prepare defense and prosecuting attorneys. With the help of an attorney teacher, they spend a semester parsing documents and building cases — both from the role of prosecutor and the role of defense attorney — they will bring to the courtroom competition the following semester where teams take turns arguing both sides of the case.
Co-captain Mila Rice of Boise, who graduates Fall ’26 with majors in political science and English, said the first couple of weeks of the course, when mock trial team members met for in-class discussions, were challenging.
“We weren’t very at ease with each other, and the idea of learning courtroom procedures was pretty new,” Rice said. Still after a semester of working through lessons in courtroom protocol and the case file, the team became cohesive.
Beplate watched the dynamic evolve over the course of fall semester and into spring.
“At the beginning, a lot of students were really focused on memorizing and retaining information — just trying to get comfortable with the structure, what they were supposed to say, and learning about the trial process,” she said.
As the class progressed, she said, student confidence grew.
“Each student started taking ownership of their roles instead of just going through the motions,” Beplate said. “It was also extremely rewarding to watch them show up for one another and encourage each other to make certain arguments and prepare for each round.”
For Rice, the coursework, preparation and the courtroom experience were invaluable. Learning to respond to arguments from competitors while in a courtroom overseen by practicing and retired judges, attorneys and legal professionals, was also a key learning component.
“I enrolled in the mock trial class and didn’t know what to expect, but the entire journey was amazing,” she said. “It prepared me in ways I would never have learned in a regular classroom. The courtroom experience, presenting arguments, countering, thinking on your feet — it all gave me a tremendous amount of confidence that I will take with me to law school.”
Mock trial gives students a real sense of what legal work feels like, Beplate said.
“It also helps build confidence in public speaking and making arguments or raising objections, which are huge in law school and beyond,” Beplate said.