Successfully Competing in U.S. Moot Court Competitions
Author:
Teply, Larry L.
Edition:
1st
Copyright Date:
2014
8 chapters
have results for oral advocacy
Preface 4 results
- Law school competitions provide an excellent way of helping law students learn and refine skills important to the practice of law. Moot court competitions focus on two of those skills: written advocacy and oral advocacy. This guide is designed to provide insight and advice on how to successfully prepare for and compete in moot court competitions, especially ones set in domestic courts of the United States.
- Finally, I wish to acknowledge ideas from numerous other sources that I have absorbed over the years of teaching from materials related to moot court competitions; coaching; judging; talking with coaches, appellate judges, and students; drafting moot court problems; and helping administer the National Appellate Advocacy Competition for the American Bar Association.
- published by West in 2003. Second, the fundamentals of persuasive writing, brief writing, and oral argument appeared in Larry L. Teply,
- Specifically, (1) this guide addresses preparatory steps that should be taken prior to entering a moot court competition; (2) it recommends methods of analyzing and researching moot court problems; (3) it provides advice on how to draft an appellate brief for a moot court competition; (4) it sets out suggestions for preparing and delivering an appellate oral argument in a moot court competition; (5) it discusses competition logistics; and (6) it concludes with advice on keeping moot court competitions in perspective.
- Open Chapter
Chapter One. Preparatory Steps 89 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Roger J. Traynor Cal. Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Competition; Apr., Berkeley, Cal.; Witkin Legal Inst.; 2-3 person teams, 1 team per law school; restricted to California schools; top two oral argument scores advance to the Final Round; advancing team’s brief score must be in top 50%; $100/team.
- Nat’l Appellate Advocacy Competition, Regional competitions in Feb.-Mar., Nat’l Finals in Apr. in Chi., Ill.; Law Student Div., Am. Bar Ass’n; 2-3 person teams, 2 teams per school; Preliminary Rounds, Brief ⅓, Oral, ⅔; Subsequent Rounds, Oral, 100%; $650 for 1 team; $1250 for 2 teams.
- You can learn a great deal from seeing and hearing past oral arguments. The top recommended sources are DVDs of the final rounds of ABA’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition. They are available in the ABA Web Store, as part of the collections in some law libraries, or from coaches who have collected them. If you plan ahead, you can obtain them through interlibrary loan for free. Other recommended sources are cited below.
- Chi. Bar Ass’n Moot Court Competition; Nov., Chi., Ill.; Young Lawyers Section of the Chi. Bar Ass’n; 2-3 person teams, 2 teams per school; Preliminary Rounds, Brief 40%, Oral 60%; Octo-Final Rounds, Brief 30%, Oral 70%; Quarter-Final Round, Brief 20%, Oral 80%; Semi-Final, Brief 10%, Oral 90%; Final Round, Oral 100%; no entry fee.
- Bryant-Moore Moot Court Competition; Feb., Wash., D.C.; Howard Univ.; 2 person teams; Preliminary, Brief 50%, Oral 50%; Quarter-Final Round, Brief 30%, Oral 70%; Semi-Final Round, Brief 15%, Oral 85%; Final, Brief 10%, Oral 90%; $500 for 1 team; $450 per team if multiple teams are entered.
- Open Chapter
Chapter Five. Competition Logistics and Keeping the Competition in Perspective 28 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Remember that oral advocacy is an art, not a science. Reasonable minds can differ. In general, look for trends. Thus, if you hear the same comment over and over again, that is likely to be something that needs to be addressed or incorporated into your argument.
- • “Scrupulous honesty is … important. In oral advocacy, honesty means understatement, which is an essential attribute of persuasion. The opposite of understatement is exaggeration. [You] must never exaggerate facts or legal authority. If the fastest way to lose at moot court is to violate a competition rule, the second fastest is to misstate or misrepresent a fact or the law.”
- • “Moot court competitors should not underestimate the importance of wanting to win…. [But] [t]he odds are that [you] will not win. It is simple math: a dozen or even dozens of teams, but only one winner. Even in the event of a loss, we hope that [you] will recall the moot court experience with fondness, having had fun and having learned a lot about legal writing and oral advocacy.”
- Effective Appellate Oral Advocacy: “Beauty Is Truth, Truth Beauty
- • “As moot court competitors prepare for a competition, an effective coach or advisor [should proactively] ensure that a team is intellectually and logistically prepared.” For example, “[c]oaches should ensure that team members submit their briefs on time and complete practice rounds ….” However, “[f]aculty advisors [should] coach with a light touch, as if they [were] cheerleaders from the sidelines offering encouragement and suggestions. The cheerleading role is required, not merely by competition rules, which [at most] allow only limited faculty assistance, but also by common sense…. Doing [otherwise] interferes with student independence and is counterproductive because the students, not the [advisors] write the briefs, deliver the oral argument, and put in the time and effort preparing for and participating in the competition. The [faculty advisors] may be judged on their coaching skills, but only the students should be judged on their advocacy skills.”
- Open Chapter
Chapter Four. Oral Argument 91 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The specific formulation of the judging criteria for the oral arguments varies from competition to competition. Generally speaking, the criteria focus on presentation, clarity, organization, knowledge of the record, courtesy, and the ability to respond to questions from the bench. For example, judges in the National Appellate Advocacy Competition rate the advocates using criteria in four categories:
- Appellate Court Advocacy: The Importance of Oral Argument
- Oral Advocacy
- Effective Appellate Advocacy: Tips from the Teams
- The Oral Argument on Appeal
- Open Chapter
Index 5 results
Chapter Three. Drafting the Brief 11 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Before you follow this advice, however, be sure to check the competition rules to see what is permitted. Some competitions totally prohibit practicing oral arguments before you have submitted the brief. Furthermore, you also must be sure to stay within the rules governing permissible assistance, which might arise if oral feedback is given.
- The rules of the competition will specify the requirements for the cover. Here is example of one that would be used for the National Appellate Advocacy Competition:
- Effective Appellate Advocacy: Tips from the Teams
- at 15-16 (identifying this approach as “an age-old rule of advocacy”).
- 3.12 Using Oral Argument as an Aid to Writing the Brief
- Open Chapter
Chapter Two. Analyzing and Researching the Problem 12 results (showing 5 best matches)
- . 325, 330 (pointing out that you should “know the record like the back of your hand” and that “[f]amiliarity with the record is probably the most important aspect of appellate advocacy”); Charles W. Shifley,
- Effective Appellate Advocacy: Tips from the Teams
- One of the best ways to master the record is to read it again and again. Through this repeated exposure, you will learn every event, the names of the parties, the dates, the locations, the courts, the procedural history of the case, etc. At the early stages of preparation, many coaches recommend reading the record three or more times a day. That approach is a relatively painless way to “internalize” everything because you never know what you might be asked about the record in oral argument. You should continue to read it until you have mastered it. You will also need to review it again before oral argument.
- In moot court, themes resonate with the brief graders and the judges in oral argument. They are an essential part of the persuasion process. Thus, it is not too early to be thinking about identifying such themes during your initial analysis of the facts.
- In a brief or an oral argument, remember that you are addressing points of law as opposed to appealing to the sympathy of a jury. Thus, your argument will be less emotional and more logical. As one coach suggests, focus on the legal issues rather than vague concepts of justice or liberty and “this problem should take care of itself.”
- Open Chapter
- Publication Date: July 14th, 2014
- ISBN: 9780314281814
- Subject: Moot Court/Trial Competition
- Series: Academic and Career Success
- Type: Academic/Prof. Development
- Description: Teply's Successfully Competing in U.S. Moot Court Competitions is a short, easy-reading book, designed to help students prepare for team selection competitions as well as those who will be competing at U.S. moot court competitions. It includes advice on a range of issues – from selecting a partner to keeping the competition in perspective after it is over. It includes advice based on interviews with successful moot court coaches from several law schools.
