Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Session 2, 11:30am-12:15pm
Enhancing the Pedagogy of Oral Argument and First-Year Moot Court
Mary S. Lawrence, Thomas McDonnell, Henry T. Wihnyk
Program Code: T2F
Although the highlight of the first-year for many students, oral argument and moot court often fail to follow sound pedagogy. Attorney judges are often ill prepared, harsh, and ineffectual providers of feedback and, at the same time, they often do not challenge the students appropriately. This panel addresses these problems and also proposes how to deepen the oral argument experience by posing ethical issues. The panelists will also cover curriculum design for oral argument and approaches for teaching oral argument skills, including the use of online videos of actual arguments presented to appellate courts.