About Us
The New York University Moot Court Board is a student-run, honorary organization that combines legal scholarship with oral advocacy. Staff members are selected from the first-year class primarily on the basis of their ICWA brief written in their lawyering class. Interested students apply through the journal write-on competition, but submit their ICWA brief in place of the essay requested by the journals. Each year, between 30 and 35 students are welcomed onto the Board. As second-years, Moot Court Board Staff Members, join either the Casebook Division or the Competitions Division. In addition, the NYU Moot Court Board administers the annual Orison S. Marden Competition, one of the country’s best-known intra-school moot court competitions, and the Immigration Law Competition, open to law schools around the country.
NYU Moot Court Casebook
The NYU Moot Court Casebook, published annually, is the most widely recognized and utilized set of moot court problems in the nation; over 110 law schools currently subscribe. Each second-year Staff Member in the Casebook division will create a moot court problem featuring an unresolved issue of law. Each problem has two parts: a detailed record, which contains all documents relevant to the hypothetical case, and a bench memo, which surveys all relevant case law and policy analysis and includes sample briefs for both sides.
Casebook Volume 32, published in November 2008, includes problems created by 2007-2008 Staff Members.
Casebook Volume 33 will be published in November 2009. Casebook Staff Members also help prepare the previous year's Casebook for publication, moot the Competitions Staff Members for upcoming competitions, and administer the Immigration Law and Marden competitions.
NYU Moot Court Competitions Division
Competitions Division Staff Members represent New York University at a wide array of national competitions. During their first semester on the Board, Competitions Division Staff Members participate in an extensive oral advocacy and brief writing training program that involves writing a full-length appellate brief and arguing several times during the Fall Marden Competition. Their second semester on the Board is spent preparing appellate briefs and oral arguments for one of several interscholastic competitions. The 2008-2009 teams placed among the top teams in the following national moot court competitions:
- Robert F. Wagner National Labor & Employment Law Moot Court Competition (New York Law School)
- BMI Entertainment and Communications Law Competition ( Cardozo School of Law)
- William B. Spong Constitutional Law Competition (William and Mary School of Law)
- National Sexual Orientation Moot Court Competition (UCLA)
- Prince Invitational Evidence Competition ( Brooklyn Law School )
- Luke Charles Moore Civil Rights Moot Court Competition ( Howard University )
- John J. Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Competition ( Seton Hall University )
- Evan J. Evans Constitutional Law Competition ( University of Wisconsin )
Competitions division members also help prepare the previous year's Casebook for publication, moot each other's teams for upcoming competitions, and administer the Immigration Law and Marden Moot Court competitions.
The National and Jessup Teams
The National Team represents NYU Law at the prestigious National Moot Court Competition (sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American College of Trial Lawyers), while the Jessup Team represents NYU Law at the renowned Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Each team consists of outstanding third-year advocates chosen from the Board and the previous year's Marden Competition. In February 2010, NYU Law will also send a team of third-year students to the National Environmental Law Competition at Pace University.
Orison S. Marden Competition
Named for the famous NYU alumnus, the Orison S. Marden Competition is a school-wide moot court tournament open to all second- and third-year students. The Moot Court Board both composes the problems (for which students write briefs and argue during the various stages of the competition) and administers the tournament. For the final argument on April 7, 2009, the Moot Court Board welcomed the Honorable Justice Samuel A. Alito of the United States Supreme Court, Judge Diana Gribbon Motz of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge Michael W. McConnell of the Tenth Circuit .
The Immigration Law Competition
The Third Annual NYU Immigration Law Moot Court Competition concluded on February 22, 2009 and was open to law schools around the country. As with the Marden Competition, the Moot Court Board composes the problems and runs the tournament. Thirteen teams from around the country participated in a weekend of arguments at NYU. The Fifth Annual ILC is scheduled for February 2010.
Conclusion
New York University Moot Court Board membership offers an opportunity to develop and apply the research, writing, and advocacy skills essential to the successful practice of law. Producing appellate briefs and Casebook problems gives Staff Members writing and editing experience similar to that provided by membership on NYU's other journals. The added dimensions of advocacy and creativity, however, preserve the Moot Court Board 's unique place among the honorary journal organizations at NYU.
If you have any questions about Moot Court Board 's activities, please contact:
Casey Donnelly
Chairperson
NYU Moot Court Board
ced292@nyu.edu