In September 2008, as a pro bono work by CollabTech Inc., two websites were provided for a California high school mock trial team, which will be referred to here as the FVHS Mock Trial Team. One of these was a public website, coded and hosted by CollabTech Inc., providing information about the Constitutional Rights Foundation Mock Trial Program and the FVHS Mock Trial Team. The other was a private team website, created within a Google Apps account, based on requirements provided by an attorney who was at that time a volunteer attorney coach for the FVHS Mock Trial Team.

Prior to the 2008 season, the attorney coach worked within Google Apps to add content to the team website and upload documents to be made available for team use. During this time, the author functioned as system administrator, providing technical support and assistance to the attorney coach, who had no prior experience with website design or website content management.

Once the 2008 team had been formed, students who were part of the team could log into individual Google Apps accounts in order to access the private team website, view the team calendar, see team announcements, send email to other team members, access study materials, use templates to prepare their case presentations, and work on documents collaboratively with other team members. After 2008-2009 mock trial season had ended, students could no longer log into Google Apps, but the private website and related content were retained for use the next year.

At the beginning of the 2009-2010 mock trial season, the website was updated and log-in access was once again provided for all active team members. Students once again used Google Apps as a resource and collaborative tool during their participation in the mock trial team.

As of June 2010, the attorney who worked with the author concluded his service as attorney coach for the FVHS Mock Trial team. The private team website was retained for future use, but public  information about the mock trial team is now provided from within the school’s website. Since the original public website for fvhsmocktrial.org is no longer needed, it has been retired and has been replaced by this website, which discusses the creation and use of the Google Apps private team space during two mock trial seasons as a case study in collaboration.