Developing Teamwork Skills Through Experience

Active Listening

I have learned to listen actively by participating in Mock Trial events during my undergraduate career at Texas A&M. Active listening involves carefully listening to what is said, taking notes on the significant points, responding to those points, and keeping track of important information that may help your case. It is essential to the legal field because prosecutors must handle plea deals, surprise witness lists, and unexpected arguments in every case. By actively listening, attorneys have the opportunity to use statements expressed by their opponents to build their cases. As a closing attorney in Mock Trial rounds, I actively listened to the opponent's arguments and refined my rebuttal based on things that they said that could help our case. Once, I took my closing argument in a different direction that won us the round. Practicing active listening helped me succeed in Mock Trial and prepared me for a future in criminal prosecution.

Navigating Roadblocks

Mock Trial has helped develop the skill of navigating roadblocks. I have learned to navigate roadblocks, including the ability to handle unexpected circumstances. In Mock Trial, we faced barriers that occurred naturally resulting from changing travel plans and interacting with teammates with different expectations and backgrounds. In 2019 we had a member step down before a competition. As a team, the officer board worked to compensate for this loss by replacing the member, shifting roles, and rearranging travel arrangements. The same weekend we won two team awards at the tournament, which served as evidence of the officer board and team's ability to navigate that particular roadblock.

Using Strengths to Assign Roles and Tasks

I have also learned how to use strengths to assign roles to complete tasks. Both Mock Trial and Capstone have taught me how to use my strengths, such as attention to detail and persistence, to divide responsibilities. At the beginning of Capstone, we did a personality consultation workshop to review each member's strengths and abilities. We then used the lessons we learned from the personality consultation workshop to help divide responsibilities amongst group members. Based on the results from the personality consultation workshop, I learned that two of my strengths are attention to detail and persistence. Attention to detail involves catching minor discrepancies and achieving thoroughness and accuracy in assigned tasks. Persistence means being determined to do something regardless of any setbacks. Based on these strengths, I was assigned to lead the research portion of the project and work on the deliverables team. My persistence helped in the research portion because I diligently researched and evaluated the sources we needed to complete our project. My attention to detail helped me excel on the deliverables team, which created visual aids and resources for are capstone client because I successfully caught and corrected mistakes in our deliverables. To the left are samples of some of the deliverables we created as a team in Capstone.

Mock Trial has also taught me how to use my organizational strengths to assign tasks, aligning the strengths of other team members with the work that needed to be completed on a large project. My organization skills, combined with my attention to detail, allowed me to plan the smaller details, focus on multiple tasks, and delegate tasks as necessary. After taking office, the current officer board split up responsibilities, such as long-distance travel coordination, tournament hosting requirements, and regular meeting requirements. In January 2020, we hosted the inaugural Mock Trial Invitational tournament at Texas A&M. When planning the competition, the Vice President and I divided responsibilities; I was in charge of all tournament logistics, and he was in charge of judging. My attention to detail and organizational skills helped me successfully plan the smaller nuances of the tournament and keep the competition running on time. This division allowed for a successful invitational tournament in Spring 2020.