Developments in the Law School Advocacy Community

This has, out of necessity, been a busy summer for the law school advocacy community. Some exciting and important developments this week:

Guidance for Conducting Moot Court Competitions in 2020–21: Throughout this summer, a group of advocacy professors and coaches coordinated by Rob Galloway, the Associate Director of Appellate Advocacy at South Texas College of Law Houston, has met weekly to discuss issues related to running moot court competitions and programs in the COVID era. This week, the group published a comprehensive set of recommendations for administering moot court competitions in 2020–21. The document is signed by 78 advocacy teachers, many of whom also administer interscholastic and intramural competitions. It offers insights complied by three working groups on handling competitions in These Challenging Times. Like the best-practices guidance for courts published recently by the American Association of Appellate Lawyers, the document stresses that competition organizers should strive to bring as much normal as possible into the new normal: make COVID-era competitions as much like what we're used to as we can. But, as those of us who've administered virtual arguments and competitions have discovered, doing this well requires thoughtful adaptation. The document give soup-to-nuts advice on how to adapt competition rules and procedures without digging unduly deeply into the technological weeds. If you or someone you care about runs a moot court competition, I respectfully urge you to read it and to follow up with our group if there's anything we can do to help.

The National Online Moot Court Competition: The pandemic has prompted a consortium of law schools—inspired in part by pioneering efforts in the trial-advocacy community—to create a new moot court tournament. Registration is open now. The registration form is accessible here; the rules here; the proposed competition timeline here. It is especially cool that this competition is built from the ground up as a virtual competition. Schools that register will receive a technology package designed to make sure that all teams compete on a level virtual playing field. The competition's rules and design thoughtfully incorporate the practices I discuss above. This is not surprising; the representatives of the schools sponsoring the tournament were active in producing the guidance. And, more generally, the tournament looks to incorporate general best practices for moot court: advocates will argue in four preliminary rounds and will be guaranteed a large, well-qualified pool of brief scorers and oral argument judges.

The new leaders of the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators: I posted three weeks ago about the election of officers for this new organization. It is done. The group's prospective members have voted on an excellent slate of candidates. As was inevitable, they have chosen a great board that brings together advocacy professors and coaches with deep and wide-ranging experience:

• President: Rob Galloway, South Texas College of Law Houston
• Vice President: A.J. Bellido de Luna, St. Mary's University School of Law
• Secretary: Megan Chaney, Shepard Broad School of Law–Nova Southeastern University
• Treasurer: Robert Little, Baylor Law School
• Regional Representatives:
  • Tim Wilton, Suffolk University Law School
  • Joanne Van Dyke, Syracuse University College of Law
  • Jodi Hudson, Seton Hall School of Law
  • David Johnson, George Washington University School of Law
  • Jennifer Franklin, William & Mary Law School (and the Appellate Advocacy Blog)
  • Suparna Malempati, Atlanta's John Marshall Law School
  • Jennifer Copland, Michigan State University College of Law
  • Judge Jim Roberts, Samford University's Cumberland School of Law
  • Ana Montelongo, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
  • Patricia Wilson, Baylor Law School
  • Michaelle Tobin, University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law
  • Laura Rose, University of South Dakota Law School
  • Judge John Madden IV, University of Denver Sturm College of Law
  • Spencer Pahlke, UC Berkeley Law
  • Susan Poehls, Loyola Law School