Moot Court Problem

Moot Court Problem

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Moot Court Guide

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Rules for the Animal Law Moot Court Competition

RULE I. ORGANIZATION

The National Animal Advocacy Competitions are inter-law school events comprised of an appellate Moot Court Competition, a Closing Argument Competition, a Legislative Drafting & Lobbying Competition, and Mock Trial Competitions. The purpose is to provide law students an opportunity to develop an expertise in animal law and to hone their persuasive abilities as well as their written and oral advocacy techniques.

RULE II. TEAMS

A. Number and Composition of Teams. Each school may enter up to two teams. Teams are composed of two or three law students who have completed at least one year of study from an ABA accredited law school. The competition is open to the first twenty registered teams.

B. Substitution. In the event of an emergency or extreme hardship, upon written permission of the board, schools may send an alternate team member. If any team member is substituted at any time, the team may compete in the preliminary oral rounds but may not advance to the semi-final rounds. The authors of the brief may still win best brief, and an individual oral round competitor may win best oral advocate.

C. Registration. Teams must submit the registration form online complete with the names of the student participants and pay the registration fee of $400 to become registered. Teams will not receive refunds once registered.

RULE III. PROBLEM AND GUIDE

A. Distribution. Problems will be posted on the competitions website by November 30, 2005. All participants will be notified by email.

B. Components. Students are responsible for downloading the moot court record, order, and guide. The Moot Court Guide should be considered a supplement to the rules. Please contact NCAL regarding any discrepancies, if any, between the rules and the guide.

RULE IV. THE BRIEFS

A. General. Each Team may write only one brief, and those arguing the problem must draft the brief (see Rule II.B). The Team may choose which side to write for the brief, but will argue both sides of the case during the preliminary rounds. The use of the work product of any other person other than a team member to prepare the brief is strictly prohibited. Students may not ask specific or general questions about the subject matter of the problem. Participants may not receive assistance from anyone including professors, coaches, attorneys, or government or advocacy organizations. If this rule is violated, teams will be disqualified. Students may receive assistance for oral arguments once the brief has been submitted.

B. Length and form of briefs. Each team is required to submit both a Measuring brief as well as three other copies of the Team brief as specified below.

1. Format. All text and footnotes shall be in 12-point Times New Roman type. Total length of the brief, excluding the Table of Contents, Table of Citations and Appendices, may not exceed twenty-five (25) pages, which may be one- or two-sided with 1” margins. Text should be double-spaced, footnotes single-spaced. All citations shall be complete and in the form prescribed by the latest edition of the Harvard Law Association’s Uniform System of Citation (Bluebook) or American Legal Writing (ALWD). Appendices may be used to recite the text of statutes, constitutional provisions, regulations and materials that are not generally available.

2. Number of briefs. Each team shall submit four copies of its brief to the Board, one (1) Measuring Brief, and three (3) copies. All briefs must have a blue (appellant) or red (respondent) cover.

a. Measuring Brief. The cover shall include the names of the individual Team members and Team number appearing at the lower right hand corner. Each Team must also submit a 3.5 inch computer diskette or rewritable CD containing the Measuring Brief (in one document) in Word 2000 or above.

b. Other copies. Three copies of the brief shall be identical reproductions of the original Measuring Brief except that the cover shall only include the Team number (not names of students or name of school).

3. Certification. Each team submitting a brief in the Competition shall certify that such brief has been prepared in accordance with these Rules and that the work product is solely that of the Team’s members.

The certification shall state:

We hereby certify that our brief is the product solely of the undersigned and that the undersigned have not received any faculty or other assistance in connection with the preparation of the brief.



Team Member ___________________

Team Member ___________________

Team Member ___________________

Date: ___________________


C. Service of briefs.

1. Service upon the Board.

a. Each Team shall serve upon the Board, in a single package bearing the team name and number, a package which must be postmarked by January 25, 2006 including:

i. The Measuring Brief, clearly marked as such
ii. One computer diskette containing the Measuring Brief
iii. Three (3) copies of the Team brief
iv. The team’s original certification (not bound within the brief)

b. Briefs served upon the Board shall be directed to:
National Center for Animal Law
National Animal Advocacy Competitions
10015 SW Terwilliger Blvd.
Portland, OR 97219

3. Service of briefs on opposing Teams. Each team’s brief will be posted on the competition’s website (“Participants” page) with links to each team’s brief through their school’s team number.

4. Revision of briefs. Teams may not revise their briefs after they are submitted to the Board.

RULE V. SCORING

A. Briefs. A committee of experienced litigators shall score all briefs submitted and shall select the best brief for each party opponent in the Competition. The brief score shall be used with the preliminary round scores to determine advancement to the semi-final round.
Briefs will be scored on a 100-point scale on the following basis: correct Bluebook or ALWD citation, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization shall represent seventeen percent (17%) of the total brief score. Thoroughness of research, depth of analysis, and persuasiveness of argument shall represent eighty percent (80%) of the total brief score. Three percent (3%) of the total score will be for Measuring Brief factors (ability to follow requirements).

B. Rounds. The schedule for the preliminary rounds will be posted on the website and made available to participating teams by February 6, 2006. Each team will compete in two preliminary rounds, arguing for appellants once and respondents once, and will receive comments and feedback from judges at the close of each round. Teams may not witness the rounds of other competitors. The semifinal and final rounds will take place on a schedule announced by the Board. Four (4) teams shall progress to the semi-final round.

C. Advancement to final rounds. At the conclusion of the two preliminary rounds, a total score for each team will be calculated. The total score will be calculated as follows: 30% based on the team’s brief score and 35% on the team’s combined oral scores from each of the two preliminary rounds. The combined oral score for each team from a particular preliminary round is the total of the scores received from all three judges for each of the team members.

The four teams with the top total scores will advance to the semi-final rounds. In the event of a tie, the team with the greater number of “wins” from the judges in the preliminary rounds will advance. Any persisting tie will be broken by the brief score.

Pairings and team sides for the semi-final rounds will be randomly assigned. Winners of the semi-final rounds are determined solely on scores from that round (scores from the briefs and preliminary rounds are not included in the determination).

D. Order, timing and results of arguments.
1. Time allowed for arguments. Oral argument shall be limited to a total of thirty minutes per Team, fifteen (15) minutes for each Team member, except as discussed below. Judges, at their discretion, may interrupt arguments to ask questions but may not allow additional time. The appellant team, by advance stipulation, may reserve up to five (5) minutes for rebuttal. Rebuttal time may be subtracted from either or both of the two arguing Team members’ time allotment. (Example: Team Member # 1 may argue for 14 minutes, Team Member # 2 may argue for 13 minutes, thus reserving a total of 3 minutes for rebuttal by one team member.) Only one team member may rebut. The first team member must tell the timekeeper how much time to reserve in advance, and must also tell the court during their introduction.

At the commencement of each round, the participants will be allowed a few moments to set up for their argument. When everyone is ready, the bailiff/timekeeper will announce that the first party may begin.

The bailiff/timekeeper will display a green card until only one minute remains of the participant’s allotted time, and signals will be given at the 7 minute, 5 minute, and 3 minute marks. When one minute remains, a yellow card will be displayed. When the participant’s time has expired, a red card will be displayed, signaling that the participant must conclude promptly.

2. Order of Arguments. The order of the arguments will be as follows:
Team A, Student 1 arguing first issue
Team A, Student 2 arguing second issue
Team B, Student 1 arguing first issue
Team B, Student 2 arguing second issue
Team A, Rebuttal

3. Scoring Arguments. The arguments will be scored on a 1 to 10 scale. Judges will consider organization, preparation, courtroom presentation, handling of questions, and legal reasoning.

4. Results. Each team will receive oral feedback at the end of each round. Winners of the competition will be announced at the awards ceremony and will be posted on the NAAC website.

RULE VI. PENALTIES. The Board may assess such penalties, including disqualification, as it deems reasonable and appropriate in its sole discretion for failure to comply with the rules or deadlines set pursuant to these rules.

RULE VII. INTERPRETATION OF THE RULES
Requests for interpretation of these rules should be addressed to the National Center for Animal Law. Requests should be made at the earliest date possible. All interpretations of these rules and any waivers, consents, assessments of penalties, decisions or other actions taken by the Board in its administration of the Competition shall be in its sole and absolute discretion. Such interpretations, waivers, consents, assessments of penalties, decisions or actions shall be final, and all participants shall be bound thereby.

RULE VIII. OTHER RULES

The Board may from time to time make any other rules and procedures deemed advisable for the conduct of the Competition, in its sole discretion.

Please address questions about the National Animal Advocacy Competition to Laura Ireland Moore, Competitions Coordinator at:

E-mail: ncal@lclark.edu
Phone: (503) 768-6849

Answers to all questions will be distributed to all participants through email.