As part of the law programme at Karlstad Business School, students get to experience a mock trial at Värmland District Court in Karlstad.
On Friday 10 March, students participated in a mock trial in Karlstad as part of the course Methods in Tax Law. Four groups represented the parties – the Swedish Tax Agency and the person charged with tax fraud. The chief judge, Ulrika Melin, welcomed the students in the court waiting room. After that, the mock trial began.
Anders Hultqvist, Professor of Financial Law and Director of the law programme at Karlstad Business School – in what way does this kind of exercise help our students?
- It creates a more reality-based experience, getting to appear in a real court in front of real judges, with whom they don’t have a student-teacher relationship, and getting a taste of what it might be like when they step out into the real world. The students shape up, put in a lot of hard work as well as getting the opportunity to apply their knowledge in practice and proof that it works. In other words, they get to see that their education has delivered what was promised and that they now have the ability to competently argue in real tax cases.
What do the students generally think about this type of exercise?
- Most students are quite nervous before the oral hearing, but also describe it as the most exciting part of the entire programme. I also think that they feel quite proud of what they have achieved.
In what type of environment does the exercise take place?
- The mock trial is conducted in a real courtroom at the Värmland District Court in Karlstad in front of real judges – in other words, as close to reality as you can get. The students are presented with real legal cases that are appealed and dealt with during the legal process, so the students participate in and learn from how the cases have been argued so far, as well as getting the opportunity to provide more information and possibly improve the argumentation with additional legal material that they have identified through their own legal investigations.
How are the students assessed?
- Each student is assessed based on their own performance during the mock trial and awarded 1–3 points – 1 point for active participation, 2 points for good performance and 3 points for excellent performance. The points are then added together with the result of the written exam.
