Moot Court
Mississippi College School of Law Moot Court Board Membership requires strong legal research and writing abilities and superior oral advocacy skills. Each fall, in addition to conducting an intra-school appellate competition among the second-year law students, the Board competes in state and national trial and appellate advocacy programs. Historically, the MC Law Moot Court Board has placed high among national competitors, gaining and reinforcing its reputation of excellence in the academic and professional communities. Moreover, the Board annually hosts multiple lectures given by judges and practitioners with experience before the United States Supreme Court as part of its Supreme Court Practice Series.
News & Announcements
MC Law Moot Court Board members Betsy Turley and Mackin Johnson (with brief writer Brad Shaw) recently placed as octofinalists at the National Duberstein Bankruptcy Competition in New York. Betsy Turley was named Outstanding Oralist, which places her in the top four out of one hundred twelve advocates.
MC Law recently placed as quarterfinalists at the South Super Regional Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Congratulations to Austin McLain, Caroline Ivanov, David Parker, Laura Katzenmeyer, and Stephanie Evans. Laura Katzenmeyer was named ninth best oralist.
Congratulations to all of our Board Members who represented MC Law at the Regional National Appellate Advocacy Competition in Atlanta this February: Abby Ersin, Amber Sheppard, Alex Sullivan, Ian Austin, Blake Fulton, and Chris Dunnell. Amber Sheppard and Abby Ersin won second best overall brief, and Abby Ersin placed sixth best oralist. Both teams placed as octofinalists.
MC Law placed second overall at the Elliot Cup Bankruptcy Competition in New Orleans, making this the school’s third year to make the finals. MC Law was represented by Board members Betsy Turley and Mackin Johnson, with Betsy Turley winning Best Overall Oralist. Other competing schools include Loyola, Houston, SMU, St. Mary’s, Texas Tech, Univ. of Texas, Texas Southern, and Baylor. The Elliot Cup is a Fifth Circuit competition held every year in anticipation of the Duberstein National Bankruptcy Competition which will be held in New York next month. The competition is hosted by the Texas Bankruptcy Bar. The team was coached by local attorneys Bill Leech and Danny Ruhl, both of Copeland Cook Taylor and Bush.
MC Law successfully defended its title at the Regional American Bar Association Mediation Competition in Birmingham, AL. MC Law was represented by Board members Carrie McCormick and Jahviah D. Cooley. The competition was hosted by Cumberland School of Law and Samford University. Other schools competing include Cumberland School of Law, Faulkner University, Stetson University College of Law, Louisiana State University Paul M. Hebert Law Center, and Emory University School of Law. The team’s win gives them a place in the National ABA Mediation Competition this spring in Washington, D.C. The team was coached by local attorney Hal Miller of Butler Snow and MC Law professor Meredith Aden.
Congratualtions to Ashley Hendricks and Kate Morgan for representing MC Law at the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition! Kate Morgan was named Best Courtroom Oralist in two of the three preliminary rounds.
Sixteen MC Law students will get the chance to compete for $1,000 in the Second Annual Coxwell & Associates' Top Gun Trial Advocacy Competition in September. This event will coincide with the Second Annual 1L Opening Statement Competition, which the Moot Court Board will co-host with the Advocacy Society. The final rounds of these events will take place on September 15, 2011 at 2:30 p.m. in the Lundy Courtroom.
As part of the Moot Court Board's Supreme Court Lecture Series, Jo Carol Nesset-Sale has accepted an invitation to speak at MC Law. In 1974, Nesset-Sale was a plaintiff before the Supreme Court in Cleveland Board of Education v. LeFleur, after the school board forced her to take un-paid maternity leave in an effort to keep visibly pregnant teachers out of schools. MC Law students will have the unique opportunity to hear about her journey from the inner-city classrooms of Cleveland to law school, by way of the Supreme Court. In 2006, Nesset-Sale wrote a retrospective, offering detailed insight into her journey, entitled From Sideline to Frontline: The Making of a Civil Rights Plaintiff - A Retrospective by the Plaintiff in Cleveland Board of Education v. LaFleur. The Moot Court Board and the Women's Student Bar Association will sponsor the event, which will take place on October 5.
Overview
Mississippi College School of Law's Moot Court Board is nationally recognized team composed of students who seek to improve both their writing and oral advocacy skills.
Board members are selected each fall through a try-out competition. Second year students are invited to participate in the competition after submitting a brief for the mandatory appellate advocacy class. Through the Copeland, Cook, Taylor, and Bush internal competition, each student presents an oral argument on the issues addressed in the brief to a panel of local judges, attorneys, and faculty members. New Board members are selected based on the combination of their brief score and oral argument score.
Once on the Board, members compete in competitions that take place throughout the year and throughout the United States. Our Board competes in national Moot Court, Trial, and ADR competitions.
About the Director
Vicki Lowery is the faculty advisor for the Moot Court Board and coaches MC Law’s external competition teams. “Coaching the competition teams reminds me what I loved the most about practicing law,” Lowery says. “The cases and clients may be hypothetical, but the challenges and rewards are very real.”
She is a 1998 cum laude graduate of MC Law, and previously a litigator with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz. In her spare time, Lowery enjoys reading, although she’s usually immersed not in the latest murder mystery, but in an appellate brief.
“This is more than a job; it’s something that I’m emotionally invested in,” Lowery says. “Sometimes at a competition, the students will tell me they’re nervous, and my answer is always, ‘I’m nervous too.’ I’m like the football coach on the sidelines at the big game. Going up against larger law schools with deeper staff and bigger endowments can be intimidating, but I’m proud to say that no matter who the competitor is, our MC Law team is always a serious contender.”
Vision
The Moot Court Board of Mississippi College School of Law strives to increase the reputation and prestige of our law school overall, with the twin goals of honing the professional advocacy skills of our members and ensuring increased academic rigor through our focus on superior legal writing skills. The Board also strives to enhance the academic credentials and professionalism of our students and the legal community by fostering interest in the vital advocacy skills required of successful appellate and trial attorneys.
Contact
Samuel Gregory
Chair, Moot Court Board
Justin Warren
Vice-Chair, Moot Court Board
Robert Jones
External Advocacy Chair, Moot Court Board
Travis Williams
External Trial Competition Chair, Moot Court Board
Professor Victoria Lowery
Director of Advocacy
Sarah Smith
Faculty Assistant
