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Preparing For Life After Law School With Moot Courts

Published September 20, 2019

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Zachary Ware is an SEO & PPC Specialist at protocol 80, Inc.

Take a deep breath, close your eyes, and imagine it. It’s here. The big day is finally here. It’s your first day in the courtroom after graduating law school. You’re frantically rushing around, careful not to forget anything. As you walk out your door patting yourself down one last time to make sure that you have everything, you think to yourself “I’m prepared. I’m totally prepared”.

You might be prepared. You might have everything that you need stuffed safely in your briefcase, pockets, or purse. But take a moment to ask yourself: are you ready?

What Exactly Are Moot Courts?

In short, a moot court is an extracurricular or intramural activity that many law schools offer, in which student participants are given the opportunity to take part in mock court proceedings. 

Students get to argue legal and policy issues in front of a judge (or group of judges). These opportunities can often prove invaluable to students, as they’re honing essential skills in brief writing and oral arguments - skills that can and will be utilized frequently in post-law school life. Moot courts also provide students with first-hand experience in how courtroom proceedings take place. 

Appellate court advocacy ensures that students that participate in moot court proceedings are becoming attorneys and lawyers that are knowledgeable and effective in trial proceedings.

3 Major Differences Between Moot Court and Mock Trial

Oftentimes, the term “moot court” is incorrectly used interchangeably with “mock trial”.
“Moot court” refers to an appellate court, or a court of appeals. In an appellate moot court, the trial has already happened, and someone isn’t happy with the outcome, so the ruling is being appealed. “Mock trial”, however,  refers to trial courts, or the courts where the cases start.

 Key differences between the two are:

1. In trial courts, both sides present their evidence in an attempt to tell their respective sides of a story. In appellate courts, lawyers will instead only argue legal issues and policy before judges
2. In trial courts, there is only one judge in the courtroom. He or she decides what evidence can (or cannot) be used, and many times decides the outcome of the case. In appellate court, there are groups of judges
3. Trial courts have a jury of citizens, whereas appellate courts have no jury

How Do They Work?

In a team of (usually) two to three students, you’ll be developing a written brief and oral arguments (sometimes for both sides of the argument). Many times, the cases that you’ll be arguing are current supreme court cases. When coming up with a written brief, most competitions allow very little outside help - if any at all. Preparing your oral argument is a bit different, though. You’ll have a coach who will provide you with more constructive feedback, and will sometimes have guest attorneys who will act as guest judges who will hear and critique your arguments as they’re developed. 

Written briefs are sent in prior to the competition date, and you may or may not receive your written brief score when you arrive at the competition. Written briefs usually account for 30% of your overall score, and oral arguments account for the remaining 70%.

You’ll then progress through preliminary oral arguments (about 4 rounds), through the quarterfinals, semifinals, and the final rounds. Judging panels in later rounds often include real judges, and sometimes even Supreme Court Justices. 

Following the finals, many competitions have an awards banquet where awards are given to the students and teams that had the highest written brief, oral argument, and overall scores.

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The Current Scope of Moot Courts

Moot court competitions are held all over the country. They can take place at the school-level, state, regional, national, and international-level. 

The University of Buffalo School of Law hosts several moot court competitions. These competitions include:

As we’ve explained what moot courts are and how they work, you may be wondering whether you should make time to participate in them or whether you should focus your attention elsewhere. Not only are moot courts a fun and social extracurricular, they also provide students with valuable real-world experience in appellate court goings-on, and provide great resume opportunities for engaged students. If you’re still wondering whether participating in moot court is for you, think about what your first day in the courtroom will be like, and ask yourself: are you ready?

Photo of Zachary Ware.

Zachary Ware is an SEO & PPC Specialist at protocol 80, Inc.

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