Developing Analytical and Communication Skills in a Mock-Trial Course Based on the Famous Woburn, Massachusetts Case

Abstract

A mock trial in which undergraduates serve as expert witnesses and law students serve as their attorneys is an effective vehicle for developing quantitative skills and enhancing written and oral communication skills. I have developed an interdisciplinary course based on the book A Civil Action. The book deals with the legal struggle of families in Woburn, Massachusetts, who sued two corporations alleging that improperly handled industrial chemicals entered the groundwater system, were captured by two municipal wells, and prolonged ingestion of the contaminated water caused leukemias and other health disorders. Students analyze aerial photographs, well logs, streamflow records, permeability tests, and water-level and water-quality data from the trial to complete assignments that become exhibits in the mock trial. Assignments include construction of geologic cross sections, potentiometric maps, hydrographs, flood recurrence graphs, and calculation of hydraulic gradients, groundwater velocities, and contaminant travel times. Trial transcripts and newspaper articles serve as background materials for a term paper. Based on the computational assignments, background readings, and a discussion of professional ethics, students compose an expert opinion from the viewpoint of their client and are deposed by opposing counsel. A jury of undergraduates is impaneled for the one-day mock trial in which the law students make opening statements and closing arguments, and conduct direct examinations and cross examinations of the scientific experts. The course teaches students how to develop and defend their opinions, how to question the opinions of others, the limitations of data collection and analysis, and the importance of integrating computational and communication skills.