Spring Moot Court Teams Tryouts 

Download application and questionnaire here and return to Room 604

TRYOUTS:   Week of October 26th

ELIGIBILITY: Students must have completed Herzog, including the Fall 2009 Herzog Competition.

THE TRYOUT: The tryout is ten minutes long and is divided into two five minute periods:

(1) five minute version of your Herzog argument, and

(2) five minute interview.

(1)        ORAL ARGUMENT

You will give a five minute version of you Herzog oral argument before a panel of faculty members and two student members of the Moot Court Executive Board.  They will act as judges and will ask questions. 

Students who have previously competed in an interscholastic moot court competition will only be interviewed.  Herzog is not an interscholastic competition; therefore students who only have completed Herzog must also tryout.

Courtroom attire is required.

(2)        INTERVIEW 

The purpose of this interview is for the Moot Court Committee to learn more about you, your schedule, your interests, your strengths and your weaknesses.  This helps us determine who are the best candidates for the various competitions.  This is your opportunity to advocate your OWN position; sell us on yourself and your abilities.

As part of the interview, the Moot Court Committee may inquire about the following:

(a)        All law school grades.

(b)        Quality of participation in the Herzog Competition or any interschool competition.

(c)        Participation on the John Marshall Law Review, the Journal of Computer and Information Law, or the Review of Intellectual Property Law.

(d)       Any other relevant experience.

DEADLINES: If you are interested in being considered for any team you must:

1.         Complete the competition questionnaire and return it with a copy of your resume to the Moot Court Office (room 604) no later than Monday, October 26th at 4:00p.m.

2.         Linda McHugh in the Moot Court Office will give you a tryout time when you submit your questionnaire.

COMPETITIONS:

We are considering entering teams in the following competitions if there are a sufficient number of qualified students:

If you have any questions, please feel free to call the Moot Court Office at (312) 987-1423.  Generally someone is there during the day to answer calls.  If no one is available, please leave a message. 

EXPECTATIONS OF TEAM MEMBERS: 

Moot court teams at John Marshall are not extracurricular activities.  They are two (2) credit courses for which students receive grades.  As such, the faculty advisor has the right to impose minimum requirements on team members.  When a team is coached by an alumnus, the alumnus has been delegated the same authority by the Moot Court Director.

Seminar:  Team members are required to attend classes on brief writing and oral argument.

Brief Writing:  Students must submit drafts to the faculty advisor according to a schedule.  Drafting a brief for an interscholastic competition is considerably more demanding than for the Herzog competition.  The brief is at least twice as long, and the issues are more sophisticated.  The brief is also written by a team; meshing the styles of two or three individuals is challenging and time consuming.

Oral Argument:  All teams are expected to practice a minimum of four days each week.  (Each practice is an hour to an hour and a half long.)  At least three of those practices must be held during regular business hours (9 a.m. until 6 p.m.).  This is necessary so that we may obtain faculty judges for the practices.  The fourth practice is often scheduled for Saturday or Sunday to give the team a larger block of uninterrupted time with their faculty advisor.

Because two or three students work with a faculty advisor, students must find ways to adapt their schedules to each other and their advisor.  All students have busy schedules of work and classes, but to make a team successful students may have to adjust or cut back on work hours to accommodate team member and faculty schedules.