The Bench Brief

Wash U tops Pepperdine in NAAC final

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law won the 2012 ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition this morning, defeating Pepperdine University School of Law to claim supremacy over 208 other teams that began the competition back in February. Stetson University College of Law and University of Georgia were the semifinalists.

UC Hastings College of the Law won Best Brief trophy, while Scott Thompson of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law was the nation's Best Advocate.

NAAC semifinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:57:00 +0000

And then there were two...

Pepperdine (#4 seed) def. Georgia (#9 seed)
Wash U. (#7) def. Stetson (#6)

NAAC quarterfinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 19:17:00 +0000

Georgia (#9 seed) def. UC Hastings (#1 seed)
Pepperdine (#4) def. Texas Tech (#5)
Stetson (#6) def. UC Berkeley (#14)
Wash U. (#7) def. Texas Wesleyan (#2)

NAAC octafinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:36:00 +0000

UC Hastings (#1 seed) def. Liberty (#16 seed)
Georgia (#9) def. South Texas (#8)
Texas Tech (#5) def. LSU (#12)
Pepperdine (#4) def. George Mason (#13)
Stetson (#6) def. Oklahoma (#11)
UC Berkeley (#14) def. Baylor (#3)
Wash U. (#7) def. South Texas (#10)
Texas Wesleyan (#2) def. Texas (#15)

Live blogging from the NAAC finals

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:48:00 +0000

The national finals of the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition are now entering their second day -- the original field of 26 now stands at 16. Octafinals, quarterfinals, and semifinals are tomorrow (Friday), with the final round scheduled for Saturday morning.

It's been a good showing for my Texas schools; three of the top five teams are from the Lone Star State, with another three rounding out the top 16.

The top 16 teams, in order of their seeds:

1. UC Hastings College of the Law
2. Texas Wesleyan University School of Law
3. Baylor Law School
4. Pepperdine University School of Law
5. Texas Tech University School of Law
6. Stetson University College of Law
7. Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
8. South Texas College of Law
9. University of Georgia School of Law
10. South Texas College of Law
11. University of Oklahoma College of Law
12. Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center
13. George Mason University School of Law
14. UC Berkeley School of Law
15. University of Texas School of Law
16. Liberty University School of Law

Advancing teams from Boston and D.C. NAAC regionals

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:21:00 +0000

The last two of the six regionals for the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition took place this weekend in Boston and Washington D.C. As both locales hosted eight more teams than any of the other regionals, the ABA crowned five regional champions from each city instead of the ordinary four. Twenty-six teams will now converge on Chicago in mid-April for the national finals. Without further ado...

Boston Regional:
Stetson University College of Law
South Texas College of Law (two teams)
Texas Tech University School of Law (two teams)

Washington, D.C. Regional:
Charleston School of Law
George Mason University School of Law
Liberty University School of Law
Ohio Northern University Claude W. Pettit School of Law
University of Alabama School of Law

Advancing teams from New York and San Francisco NAAC regionals

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:24:00 +0000

The second set of regional rounds for the ABA National Appellate Advocacy took place this weekend in both Manhattan and San Francisco, and another eight teams have punched their dance cards for the national finals.

New York Regional:
Duke University School of Law
Florida Coastal School of Law
Texas Wesleyan University School of Law
University of Houston Law Center

San Francisco Regional:
Baylor Law School
Pepperdine University School of Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
University of Oklahoma College of Law

Next weekend will be the last two regionals in Boston and Washington, D.C. Both regionals will have 40 teams competing, whereas the four others had 32. To compensate for the increase in number of teams, both regionals will send five teams (rather than four) to the national finals. Congrats to the teams that triumphed this weekend, and good luck to everyone competing this next week. Come say hi to me in Boston!

Ideas for bettering moot court programs/competitions

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Over at Legal Skills Prof Blog, Ruth Anne Robbins, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Lawyering Programs at Rutgers School of Law -- Camden, has a nice guest post up about how moot court competitions can be improved to serve a higher pedagogical purpose.

On a broad level, I agree with her observations. At most competitions, the "record" (which isn't a record at all, but rather a majority and dissenting opinion from the lower court) is too small and glosses over the facts. The standard of review is almost always de novo, and the competition rules don't allow for any brief writing help from the coaches. The problem either sets itself in the Supreme Court of the United States -- a forum students are almost guaranteed to never reach -- or some fictional state named after the host school that is devoid of any statutory or common law. The parties have a knack for sharing names with real-life celebrities or television show characters, and the limited facts that the problem does provide are sometimes so outrageously ridiculous (like this year's National Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition, which had something to do with the secession of South California over the right to wear sheepskin-lined boots) that the exercise becomes completely detached from reality. In short, it can be like climbing into a flight simulator and finding an environment that looks like a SpongeBob SquarePants cartoon. When neither the student nor the judge can realistically relate the activity to the real world, a significant learning opportunity is lost.

That said, these vices are not necessarily true at all competitions. I've been to plenty that have boring (and I mean that in a good way), lengthy records that include various court filings and testimony. I've also seen many that employ differing standards of review among and within the issues (in fact, this year's beast of an ABA NAAC problem has a standard of review that I think will force students to tread skillfully and carefully). And regardless of how well or poorly the problem is drafted, to say that a faculty member can't give detailed, targeted feedback on a student's brief writing -- while often true before the brief is due -- ignores the fact that there's nothing preventing a professor from sitting down with the student or team after a brief has been filed to give focused and detailed feedback.

In short, I think she makes very valid points, and while her suggestions are a bit too broad to help a lot of the folks who run moot court competitions, it's nice to know there are people thinking about ways to make the exercise as realistic as possible.

Ole Miss doubles down at Pace

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 16:51:00 +0000

The University of Mississippi School of Law repeated this past weekend at the 77-team National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at Pace Law School. They had to beat the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and perennial favorite Lewis & Clark Law School in the final round (remember, Pace always has a three-sided problem, so each round features three teams). Florida Coastal School of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Northeastern University School of Law, University of Tennessee College of Law, and Texas Tech University School of Law were the semifinalists.

Texas Tech also claimed the Best Overall Brief award, while Trevor Smith from Florida State University College of Law hauled in Best Oralist honors.

While Ole Miss's repeat win is impressive in its own right, this year marks the sixth straight final round for Lewis & Clark. That said, they've got a while to go before they rival South Texas College of Law's ridiculous 13 straight final-round appearances at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition from 1990 to 2002 (during which time they won 9 of their 14 NAAC championships).

Ole Miss has a press release here.

Advancing teams from Atlanta and Seattle NAAC regionals

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0000

The first two regionals for the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition are in the books, with eight teams now making reservations for Chicago in mid April.

I don't have any information on brief scores/rankings or top advocates, so don't bother asking (even if I did, I wouldn't post until after the whole tournament has finished in order to protect the anonymity of the teams).

And away we go...

Atlanta Regional:
Ave Maria School of Law
Florida A&M University College of Law
University of Georgia School of Law
Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center

Seattle Regional:
Seattle University School of Law
UC Hastings College of the Law
University of Texas School of Law
Washington University in St. Louis School of Law

So, unlike last year, when all six regionals had at least one school win two championships, neither of the first two regionals saw a school double up.

Next weekend the competition shifts to New York and San Francisco. Congrats to the first eight regional champions, and good luck to the teams next weekend!

NAAC regionals underway

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:37:00 +0000

The nation's largest advocacy tournament -- the American Bar Association's National Appellate Advocacy Competition -- is upon us. This weekend marks the start of six regional tournaments that will take place over the next three weeks, ultimately sending 26 of the 209 entering teams to Chicago in mid April to compete for the national championship.

For the 2010 and 2011 tournaments, I performed an admittedly unscientific analysis of the "toughest" regional city in terms of program strength. What the hell -- let's do it again...

As in years past, I ran the numbers using three different metrics: last year's 24 ABA regional champions, the top 25 teams in the University of Houston Blakely Advocacy Institute's Moot Court National Championship rankings for 2010-11, and the current top 25 teams (for the 2011 ranking year) according to Brian Koppen's LawSchoolAdvocacy.com ranking site.

If we start with last year's ABA regional champs, San Francisco seems to be the strongest region, with six schools sending seven defending regional champions. University of Pacific McGeorge School of Law (which had two regional champions last year), Chapman University School of Law, Drake University Law School, University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, Baylor Law School, and UC Berkeley School of Law crowd the field there. Meanwhile, three cities -- Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. -- are all tied with two schools sending three regional champions from 2011. In Boston you've got Texas Tech University School of Law (two champions) and South Texas College of Law; Atlanta plays host to University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law (two champions) and Florida A&M University College of Law; and D.C. will be visited by Liberty University School of Law (two champions) and Charleston School of Law. Incidentally, the Seattle and New York regions have four defending champions each.

Turning to the Blakely Advocacy Institute rankings, New York comes in at the hardest region. There we'll see Duke University School of Law (#6), Seton Hall University School of Law (#7), Columbia Law School (#12), Florida Coastal School of Law (#16), Brooklyn Law School (#19), and University of Houston Law Center (#24) all competing for four national bids. D.C. appears to be the weakest, with only William & Mary Law School (#14) and Liberty (#22) among the top 25 programs in the field.

Finally, Brian Koppen's rankings for the 2011 calendar year tell us that San Francicso will be the most challenging region, with five ranked programs. Baylor (#4), Berkeley (#5), Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law (#6), McGeorge (#14), and Southwestern Law School (#19) will play there. Meanwhile, D.C. again brings up the rear, with Liberty (#25) as the only ranked team.

Anyway, have fun making any sense of all that. Look forward to seeing folks in Boston. Best of luck!

Charleston dances its way to first-ever championship at Florida Tax moot

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 23:04:00 +0000

Charleston School of Law won its first national advocacy competition this past weekend, beating 15 schools at the Florida Bar Tax Section's National Tax Moot Court Competition. The nine-year-old law school took out defending champion University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law, which finished in second place. Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center and Stetson University College of Law were the semifinalists.

Loyola University Chicago School of Law had the tournament's Best Brief. Charleston's Mary Abraham was the Best Oralist.

Charleston has a news release here.

Texas Tech repeats as National Moot Court Competition champion

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 09:12:00 +0000

Last night, Texas Tech became just the second school to successfully defend its championship at the National Moot Court Competition, equaling the feat accomplished by Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2007-08 and 2008-09. The Texas Tech team defeated University of California Berkeley School of Law in the final round. Chicago-Kent and Loyola University Chicago School of Law were the semifinalists.

Texas Tech also claimed the award for National Best Brief, while Berkeley's Grace Yang was the tournament's Best Oralist.

2012 NMCC semifinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:35:00 +0000

And then there were two...

Texas Tech (#1 seed) def. Chicago-Kent (#4 seed)
UC-Berkeley (#14) def. Loyola Chicago (#2)

Final round at 7:30 p.m. EST. See my previous post for the webcast link.

2012 NMCC quarterfinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:12:00 +0000

Texas Tech (#1 seed) def. Stetson (#8 seed)
Chicago-Kent (#4) def. Iowa (#5)
UC Berkeley (#14) def. Kansas (#6)
Loyola Chicago (#2) def. Regent (#7)

The semifinals are at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday, with the final round at 7:30 p.m. EST. As in previous years, the final round will be webcast. Go here to watch.

2012 NMCC octafinal results

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:06:00 +0000

Texas Tech (#1 seed) def. Pepperdine (#16 seed)
Stetson (#8) def. Houston (#9)
Iowa (#5) def. Seton Hall (#12)
Chicago-Kent (#4) def. Colorado (#13)
Kansas (#6) def. Creighton (#11)
UC Berkeley (#14) def. Tennessee (#3)
Regent (#7) def. Loyola New Orleans (#10)
Loyola Chicago (#2) def. Seattle (#15)

Live blogging from the National Moot Court Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:03:00 +0000

The national final rounds of the National Moot Court Competition kicked off last night in Manhattan, hosting 30 teams from the 15 regional rounds that took place in November. After two preliminary rounds, we're now at 16 teams, with the rest of the tournament following a "March Madness" elimination-style format. The octafinals and quarterfinals are Wednesday, while the semifinals and championship match take place Thursday.

The 16 octafinalists, in order of their seeds and preliminary round records:

1. Texas Tech University School of Law (2-0)
2. Loyola University Chicago School of Law (2-0)
3. University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Law (2-0)
4. Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law (2-0)
5. University of Iowa College of Law (2-0)
6. University of Kansas School of Law (2-0)
7. Regent University School of Law (2-0)
8. Stetson University College of Law (1-1)
9. University of Houston Law Center (1-1)
10. Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (1-1)
11. Creighton University School of Law (1-1)
12. Seton Hall University School of Law (1-1)
13. University of Colorado at Boulder Law School (1-1)
14. University of California Berkeley School of Law (1-1)
15. Seattle University School of Law (1-1)
16. Pepperdine University School of Law (1-1)

South Texas tightens grip on rule of moot court universe

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:23:00 +0000

South Texas College of Law won the fourth annual Moot Court National Championship competition today, besting 15 other top moot programs for ultimate appellate advocacy supremacy.* Saint Louis University School of Law finished second at the tournament, which is hosted by the University of Houston Law Center's Blakely Advocacy Institute and underwritten by a number of law firms, including the competition's main sponsor, Andrews Kurth, LLP. Florida Coastal School of Law and Stetson University College of Law finished as semifinalists.

South Texas hoisted the Best Brief trophy above its mighty head, while Alexander Landback from the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law was declared the nation's Best Speaker.

* Yes, there is some sarcasm to my voice. I poke fun not at South Texas, who, as everyone knows, IS the Emperor of the moot court universe, whether they have a ~~Death Star~~ tournament trophy to prove it or not. Hats off to them for an impressive run -- they were the only team to go undefeated in the prelims and continued that run en route to the title. But having attended the competition with my own team, it was somewhat amusing to hear the UH folks talk at every turn about how this is the TRUE national championship. And, hell, it may be. The level of competition, as it is every year, was incredibly fierce.

But I'm still disappointed that Houston chooses to run a behind-closed-doors competition, as opposed to the two other "major" tournaments (the National Moot Court Competition and ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition), where transparency seems to be the goal. I don't understand why other teams' identities and brief scores, as well as round results, need to be a secret. Blakely Director Jim Lawrence has told me in the past that he believes making such information public at the outset "changes things," and while I guess that's true in some respects, we ARE talking about a gathering of the best teams in the country. Can we not assume that our students are going to bring their "A Games" every time out? If you're 0-3 heading into your last round, doesn't it stand to reason that you're going to give it all you've got to pull out at least one win? If you're 3-0, wouldn't you think you'd be just as motivated to win and capture the #1 seed?

I also fail to see why we can't use our own timekeepers, as is the case at the NMCC and NAAC. In our last round, the UH student baliffing held up a "Stop" card to my advocate who still had one minute left of rebuttal time (without holding up any other previous time card to warn him that the "Stop" card was on its way). It resulted in an awkward exchange between the judge and advocate (and ultimately a terse instruction from the judge to sit down) that was entirely avoidable.

Anyway, just some grumblings from a coach likely fueled by disappointment that his team didn't finish better. Not that anything I just mentioned had anything to do with our finish (it didn't). Most everything else at the tournament was great, including a fantastic closing banquet at Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse attended by lots of lawyers from the sponsoring firms and real judges from both Texas and federal courts -- cool networking opportunity for the students.

I hope to have the opportunity to bring a team back next year...

Thirty-one-year-old moot court competition benched due to lack of funds

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 20:52:00 +0000

Interesting article my Google News Alerts sent me today about the Hulsey-Kimbrell Moot Court Competition, which is an annual courtroom showdown between the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law and the University of Georgia School of Law that is "played" on the same day as the undergraduate football game between the two SEC schools.

As you can see in this article from the Jacksonville Financial News & Daily Record, the competition has been canceled this year because nobody could come up with the money to fund the two schools' travel costs.

That's a shame. Seems like a pretty cool tradition -- one that dates back 31 years. Hopefully, they'll get things in order by next year.

Florida Coastal wins at NLLSA

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 21:49:00 +0000

Florida Coastal School of Law was crowned National Champion at the Fourth Annual National Latino/a Law Student Association Moot Court Competition, which took place during the NLLSA annual conference September 29 through October 1 in New Orleans. Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law came in second place, while Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law and a second Florida Coastal team rounded out the final four. Fifteen teams from 12 different law schools competed.

Northern Kentucky was awarded Best Petitioner Brief, and South Texas College of Law took home honors for the Best Respondent Brief. Northern Kentucky's Jeremiah Schlotman was the tournament's Best Oralist.

William & Mary repeats at Pretrial

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:18:00 +0000

William & Mary Law School won its second consecutive championship at the National Pretrial Advocacy Competition this weekend, prevailing over 15 other teams in what is a mixture of moot court, mock trial, and brief writing skills. Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center was the finalist team, with Chapman University School of Law finishing in third and Georgetown University Law Center taking fourth.

Charleston School of Law, competing in the tournament for its first time, took home Best Brief honors. Emily Rigg of William & Mary was the final round's Best Advocate.

Oral argument resources

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 20:55:00 +0000

Legal Skills Prof Blog has a nice post up today about some different sites to visit to prepare for oral argument. I'd add that St. Mary's University School of Law here in the Lone Star State carries live webcasts of Texas Supreme Court arguments, and archives those arguments for later viewing.

If only there were a law school that taught advocacy skills...

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:54:00 +0000

News from California, where this guy thinks it's a great idea to start a law school in the middle of the freaking desert because apparently there aren't any schools out there that teach litigation skills.

"I've been thinking about this for years," he said. "How come there's not a school where people can go if they want to become trial lawyers? This is a great opportunity."

Of course, there are a number of law schools that market themselves as places where students can study to become top-notch trial attorneys. It's not entirely clear whether Dolan has been living under a rock, or whether he just thinks those law schools aren't any good at what they teach. In any event, as I like to say, good luck with all that...

If only moot court rounds got this heated

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 03:28:00 +0000

Yesterday I put to bed the Judge Sam Sparks story, but a key player in that saga -- Edith Jones, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit -- made a little news of her own today. In an en banc oral argument in the case of United States v. Delgado, Judge Jones served a cold glass of Shut the Hell Up (literally) to her colleague, Judge James Dennis. Above The Law has the whole story, including a homemade transcription of the fireworks. If you want to hear it for yourself (which I suggest), you can download the entire argument here. The festivities start right around 47:45.

The final chapter (hopefully?) in the Judge Sparks "kindergarten party" fiasco

noreply@blogger.com (Robert T. Sherwin) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 22:33:00 +0000

So I gave quite a bit of attention to the Judge Sam Sparks "kindergarten cop" order a few weeks ago. Well, last week Judge Sparks had his wrist slapped.

In an e-mail to Sparks obtained by Texas Lawyer (apparently much to the chagrin of Judge Edith Jones, who wrote it), the Fifth Circuit's chief judge said that the order was so "caustic, demeaning, and gratuitous that it casts more disrespect on the judiciary than on the now-besmirched reputation of the counsel." She concluded: "Ultimately, this kind of excess, as I noted, reflects badly on all of us. I urge you to think before you write." Yikes.