Mock court: a valuable tool to teach legal procedures to undergraduate medical students

Teaching through role-plays is a preferred modality when certain behaviours or skills need to be taught. They provide a risk-free environment that simulates a real-life scenario. For a clinician, appearance in a Court of Law as an expert witness is a part of his/her legal obligation.

To explore the utility of Mock Court as an additional teaching tool for undergraduate medical students, in understanding and familiarizing with legal procedures, specifically the courtroom procedures.

We conducted Mock Court sessions with the students playing various roles, following which feedback was collected from the students, teachers and guest assessors. The data was statistically analysed by comparison of frequencies and paired t-test (pre- and post-session comparison).

The study revealed a positive effect of the Mock Court sessions on the students, based on their increased confidence, motivation and a better grasp of legal procedures. There was a statistically significant (p < 0.001) improvement in the understanding of specific aspects of courtroom procedures after the session.

The authors recommend the active implementation of Mock Court as a teaching aid for undergraduate medical students, and the use of PDSA (Deming) cycle as a tool for quality-checks and self-improvement in subsequent sessions.