Moot Court Spring 2025
Moot court is a three-stage process: 1) legal research & turning in a preliminary memo; 2) writing the formal brief and turning it in; and 3) appearing in moot court and making an oral argument. Here are the basic expectations.
- MC 1 Legal research involves looking up 1) case briefs and opinions of the court and 2) law journal articles that attempt to make sense of the many case briefs and opinions out there. In your preliminary memo (D2L – MC1) you should summarize the legal argument in three or more cases and/or law reviews. You should also assess the current state of similar cases from a Google search that finds two or three news articles. The memo should be at least 500 words long.
- MC 2 Writing the brief – The brief should be about three to five pages (700 + words long) and it should put the case in context, summarize your legal argument, ask for relief. You should cite five cases and law reviews. (For more, see “writing the brief” on this site)
- Oral argument – Legal arguments should be explained in the moot court, and questions from judges should be answered. Dates will be posted on the moot court case page. Grades will be assigned for quality of the legal argument, for responsiveness to questions and challenges, and for persuasiveness.