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 the brief written in their lawyering class. Interested students apply through the journal write-on competition, but submit their brief in place of the essay requested by the journals. Each year, around 40 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 34, published in November 2010, includes problems created by 2009-2010 Staff Members.
Casebook Volume 35 will be published in November 2011. 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 2011-2012 Competitions Division received accolades at the following competitions:
- John J. Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition at Seton Hall University School of Law (First Place Overall, Best Oralist)
- William B. Bryant-Luke Charles Moore Invitational Moot Court Competition at Howard University School of Law (First Place Overall, Best Brief)
- William B. Spong, Jr. Invitational Moot Court Competition at William & Mary Law School (Semi-Finalists, Best Brief)
- Irving R. Kaufman Memorial Moot Court Competition at Fordham University School of Law (Semi-Finalists, Best Petitioner Brief)
- Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (Semi-Finalists, Fifth Best Oralist)
- Cardozo/BMI Entertainment and Communications Law Moot Court Competition (Quarter-Finalists, Fourth and Fifth Best Oralists)
- Evan A. Evans Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition at the University of Wisconsin (Quarter-Finalists)
- National First Amendment Moot Court Competition at Vanderbilt University (Best Brief)
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, Jessup, and Environmental 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, and Environmental Team competes in the National Environmental Competition at Pace University. Each team consists of outstanding third-year advocates chosen from the Board and the previous year's Marden Competition.
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 NYU Moot Court Board administers the competition and drafts the problems for both the Fall Elimination and Spring Semifinal Rounds. For the final argument in Spring 2012, the Moot Court Board welcomed Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Supreme Court, Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, and Judge Raymond Lohier, Jr. '91 of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Registration for the 2012-2013 Marden Competition is open until September 14, 2012 at 5 p.m. Sign-up forms are available outside the Moot Court Board office in D'Agostino Hall. The record will be released on September 19, 2012, and briefs are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, October 12. Fall Elimination Round arguments will take place from October 29 through November 8, 2012.
The Immigration Law Competition
The Seventh Annual NYU Immigration Law Moot Court Competition concluded in February 2012 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 Eighth Annual ILC will take place in Winter 2013.
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:
Cameron Tepfer
Editor-in-Chief
NYU Law Moot Court Board
cat369@nyu.edu