Format of the Staton Intramural Competition
Briefing
At the beginning of the Fall semester, each competitor will receive the competition problem, which will contain two distinct legal issues. Each competitor will be assigned to write a brief arguing only one side of one of the issues. After the brief-writing period of the competition, the competitors will submit their briefs for scoring. Members of the faculty, practitioners and judges from the Indianapolis legal community will score the briefs.
Oral Argument
After the competitors submit their briefs, the oral advocacy portion of the competition will begin. Each competitor will pair up with a student who briefed the other issue in the case. Competitors may choose a specific partner or ask the Moot Court Board to assign them a partner.
During the oral advocacy portion of the competition, each two-student team will deliver four oral arguments. During each round of argument, each competitor will argue the issue that he or she briefed. Each team will also switch sides of the argument (i.e., petitioner and respondent) from round to round.
Panels of two to four judges drawn from the law school faculty, the Moot Court Society's Order of Barristers, and the Indianapolis legal community will preside over the oral arguments. The judges will score each competitor individually. Judges will focus at least as heavily on the competitors' forensic ability as on the substance of the arguments.
Oral arguments will be held Monday through Thursday evenings at Inlow Hall and in the Indiana Supreme Court and Court of Appeals at the Indiana Statehouse. Before the oral arguments begin, each team will be given the opportunity to tell the Moot Court Board which day of the week they prefer to argue. Although there is no guarantee, the Board generally assigns teams to either their first or second scheduling preference.
When the fourth week of the competition concludes, the Moot Court Board will compute a composite score for each competitor. The Board will compute this score by first computing an average oral argument score for each competitor. Only the best three oral argument scores for each competitor are included in this average; the lowest oral argument score is dropped. After computing each competitor's average oral argument score, the Board will combine this score with the competitor's brief score to arrive at the competitor's composite score. The average oral argument score will be worth 60% of the composite score; the brief score will be worth 40% of the composite score.
The Barrister Tournament
Those competitors with composite scores in the top twenty-five percent of all competitors are named to the Order of Barristers and advance to a one-week tournament, which is called the Barrister Tournament. At that point, the competitors are assigned new partners unless both partners on a team advance and both partners wish to continue as a team. Some students may be required to switch issues during the Barrister Tournament.
Scoring during the Barrister Tournament is on a team basis. The Tournament is a single-elimination tournament (winning teams advance; losing teams are done). By the end of the Tournament, the field is narrowed to two teams who argue in the Tournament final. The final round is held in the Indiana Supreme Court before a panel of trial and appellate court judges.
What it means to be a Barrister
Students who are named to the Order of the Barristers and participate in the Barrister Tournament receive one credit of "A." All other competitors who complete the competition requirements become members of the Moot Court Society and receive one credit of "Satisfactory."
All Barristers are automatically eligible to represent the school in prestigious national and international moot court competitions. After representing the school in one of those competitions, Barristers may serve as a coach for a team competing in these competitions. Additionally, all Barristers, regardless of national team participation, are eligible to serve on the Moot Court Board. All of these activities entitle Barristers to additional credits of "A." Finally, the Barristers are expected to judge oral arguments during future Intramural Competitions.
In very limited instances, members of the Moot Court Society who are not Barristers are permitted, at the faculty discretion, to represent the school in national and international moot court competitions.
Prizes
Certain competitors in the Staton Intramural Competition who achieve excellence will receive a cash prize. More specifically, the top advocate in the initial four rounds of the competition will receive the Mitzi H. Martin Moot Court Award. The competitor who writes the top brief will receive the Elijah Lovejoy Award. Finally, the top advocate in the Barrister Tournament final will receive the Christopher M. Maine Advocacy Award.
Updated: 8/23/05
