My colleague Richard Myers will be serving as a judge in the first trial ever conducted one of the first trials ever conducted (thanks to comments for setting the record straight) in Second Life on September 25. The trial is based loosely on the Michael Vick criminal case.
"Just like a regular mock trial, they will put witnesses on in front of a jury, follow rules of evidence, conduct examinations and present opening and closing arguments to jury," says assistant professor Richard Myers, who coordinates mock court programs at the school and will serve as a judge for the Second Life mock trial. "The difference is that it will all be done in a computer-based simulated environment. No one has conducted a mock trial before in Second Life, so we're excited to see how it will work."
Here's a story about the trial. It looks like the trial will be an exciting proof of concept -- that we can conduct trials in Second Life. Next up, the virtual law school? Oh, wait, we've got those already. (h/t Law and More).
For the record, there have been mock trials in Second Life before, including one that I put together last year (though that was more as an entertainment than an educational event). But this one is more high-profile, and I'm very much looking forward to observing it.
Posted by: Eric Fink | September 24, 2009 at 09:38 AM
Thank you for setting the record straight! This will help the legal historians of the future!
Posted by: Alfred | September 24, 2009 at 10:27 AM
Yea, Nesson did a trial of the Bragg v. Linden case, not sure if that's the same one Eric is referring to.
Posted by: anon | September 24, 2009 at 03:28 PM
I argue that there should be real trials in second life in a forthcoming article called "Virtual Rule of Law" http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1463583
Perhaps these mock trials will be good test runs to see whether in-world dispute resolution has a chance.
Posted by: Michael Risch | September 24, 2009 at 10:51 PM