The Latest Word

from school is that the Moot Court problem will be posted tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. Ugh. I'm working in the morning and won't be able to even look at it until after I get home from registration.

For those not in law school, Moot Court involves writing an appellate brief and arguing it in front of a mock 3 judge panel. The whole thing is based on a fact pattern given to you. This fact pattern is the problem I've been talking about. Once you have that, you have to research the relevant areas of the law- both statutes and case law, to know what the arguments are on both sides of the issues. Each problem has 2 issues, and each student pairs up with another to form a team. Each student tackles one of the 2 issues, writing and arguing the brief as a team.

The "in court" arguments are in the form of a competition in July, with the top 8 students going to a semi-finals round, and the final day with the top 4 students competing in the finals. I attended last year, so I wouldn't be clueless about what I was getting myself into for this year. At the time, it struck a deep fear in me, but I must say that after having taken Crim Trial Practice, I'm not quite as nervous. Sure, being questioned by a merciless judge is a little different (and worse) than just putting on a trial, but I don't really feel nervous about the speaking in front of people now. It's more a matter of will I embarrass myself by not thinking quickly enough on my feet?