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The Department of Public Law in the College of Law at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) organized a Mock Trial Competition recently. It was held in the presence of Dr. Mohammed Hassan, Dean of the College of Law, faculty and students. The mock trials, similar in procedure and protocol to real trials, were held on the morning of Monday, January 23^rd, in the theater in the College of Information Technology.

The Competition aims to raise awareness of legal culture and procedures among the students and equip them with the practical skills, such as persuasion, self-confidence and the ability to improvise and represent litigants via virtual applications of legal processes. This is one method adopted by the college as part of the students’ education and training. This also allows for participation in international competitions, which develops the students' abilities and prepares them to graduate and work in various legal specialties.

Dr. Butti Al Muhairi, Dr. Hesham Emam and Professor Abu Alwafa Mohammed presided over the trials, representing judges in the Department of Public Law. The virtual court handled a criminal case (murder), where two teams of students pleaded for both the prosecution and defense respectively. The submissions were conducted as they would be in a real trial situation with arbitrators who tracked and assessed the performance of the two teams.

The results were announced at the end of the trial. First place was awarded to Omar Al-Tamimi, who represented the defense; Mona Shaker was second as the representative of the prosecution. Abdullah Al Rokn from the defense came third, and Suhaila Khamis was fourth for representing the public prosecutor.