Competitions

Students interested in honing their appellate advocacy skills at Saint Louis University School of Law have several opportunities to hone their oral advocacy and brief writing skills.

In addition to the first year Legal Research and Writing course (required for all first year students), the School offers the following:

Moot Court II

Structured to sharpen students’ skills in litigation, research, analysis, writing and oral arguments, the Moot Court classes require students to research and prepare appellate briefs and present oral arguments before a group of local attorney judges. Top students from Moot Court I are invited to advance to Moot Court II.

Moot Court II

Structured to sharpen students’ skills in litigation, research, analysis, writing and oral arguments, the Moot Court classes require students to research and prepare appellate briefs and present oral arguments before a group of local attorney judges. Top students from Moot Court I are invited to advance to Moot Court II

Faculty Contact: Professor Rollins or Professor Canfield

Moot Court Competition

Finalist are selected from the Moot Court II class to participate as members of the team sent to regional and national competititons.

Health Law Moot Court Competition

The competition allows students to write an appellate brief on a developing area of health law and policy, then argue both sides of the appeal before faculty and law trained administrators, distinguished alumni and, eventually, at the national competition. In 2006, one of the two SLU teams won the national competition. In addition, the two SLU teams won first and second place in the best brief category. The health law moot court team is coached by Kelly Dineen, RN, JD, Assistant Director of the Center for Health Law Studies.

Jessup Moot Court Competition

In this competition, students are required to write a brief and argue a hypothetical case pertaining to international law as if they were arguing in front of the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands. The School’s Jessup Moot Court team consists of second and third year students who are selected, through an internal competition, to represent Saint Louis University School of Law at the Midwest Regional Competition. The winning team from that competition then proceeds, along with the winners of the other eleven U.S. regional competitions and the national competitions in some 50 foreign countries, to the international round of competition.

Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition

Saint Louis University School of Law students participate in two intellectual property moot court competitions: The Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, and the Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Brand Names Education Foundation. In both competitions, students are required to write a brief and argue a hypothetical case pertaining to patent or trademark law, as if they were arguing in front of a federal appellate court. The School’s teams consist of second and third year students who are selected, through an internal competition, to represent Saint Louis University School of Law at the regional level of each competition. The winning teams from those competitions may then proceed to a national competition.

The Client Counseling Competition

This ABA-sponsored competition offers students the opportunity to develop interviewing and counseling techniques. Each participating team conducts simulated interviews of clients and is judged by a panel of two lawyers and one non-legal counselor. The best two teams compete in the regional competition, which is sponsored by the ABA.