About Us
The GW Undergraduate Moot Court Team participates in the American Moot Court Association's Oral Advocacy and Brief Writing competitions annually. During practices, you can learn the intricacies of Constitutional Law while trying to compile an argument relating to a specific Constitutional issue.
In the past, we have advanced to the National Oral Advocacy competition. Only 80 teams out of nearly 500 advance to this competition. Members of our team made it to the top 32 pairs in the nation. We were able to place in the top 8 teams at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament at Liberty University.
What is Moot Court?
Moot court deals with a mock appellate case in which members research both sides of their issue, write appellate briefs, and present oral arguments in front of the judges. During the oral argument sessions, members need to argue the side of the issue they are randomly assigned day of the competition. Each member argues with a member belonging to the opposite issue. The judge is able to interrupt at any point with questions.
Moot Court is viewed as a very valuable organization to have if you are interested in going to law school. It is looked at more favorably than other related organizations like debate and mock trial since members are actively arguing the law.
Want to Join?
Tryouts are held once during fall and spring semester. Keep up with our instagram @gwmootcourt to know exactly when tryouts are happening.
Before try-outs, you will first need to go to an information session to learn more about the organization and our tryout process. From there, to try out, you will need to undergo a three step tryout. Step one is to memorize one of the speeches provided in the case packet. Step two is to create a miniature argument based on a mock appellate case we provide and descriptions of various Supreme Court precedent. Step three is a short interview.