Scott Moot Court Team
Upper-division students are given an appellate problem for which they must write a judged research brief and participate in a judged oral argument on behalf of both appellant and appellee. The top four oralists compete in the final round for the award of Best Oralist. In addition, the student writing the Best Brief and the Best Advocate, the student with the highest combined brief and oral scores, are also recognized at the conclusion of the Competition.
The top 16 finalists at the end of the competition become members of the Scott Moot Court Honors Board the following year. The members of the Honors Board serve as teaching assistants for the Introduction to Appellate Advocacy classes. The Board consists of a Chief Justice, 4 Associate Justices and 11 members of Loyola's three competitive teams.
The teams represent Loyola in three off-campus moot court competitions:
- Roger J. Traynor California Appellate Moot Court Competition
- National Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
- ABA Competition, sponsored by the American Bar Association
Students receive 2 units for their participation.
Faculty Advisor: Rebecca Delfino
Frequently Asked Questions About Scott Moot Court
What is Scott Moot Court?
Scott Moot Court is the Appellate Advocacy competition of Loyola Law School. The members of the program are referred to as the Scott Moot Court Honors Board. Board Members serve on the Board for an entire year and receive a total of 6 (p/np) units for membership.
Why Should I Want to be on Scott Moot Court?
Loyola is for litigators, and Scott Moot Court prepares some of the best appellate litigators around. If your dream is to argue before the Supreme Court one day, or just to be able to handle yourself well doing law-and-motion work before a court on before a court on behalf of your firm or agency, then Scott Moot Court can give you the skills you need to become an exceptional advocate.
How Do I Join the Scott Moot Court Board?
To be eligible, LLS students must complete the Appellate Advocacy course (3 units graded) in the fall semester of their second year at law school (or, for Evening Division, by fall of 3E or equivalent) and earn at least a B in the course. In the following spring semester, interested LLS students must then register for the Scott Moot Court competition (2 units p/np). In the intramural competition, students compete for a spot on the Scott Moot Court Honors Board. The competition requires the preparation of a competent appellate brief and participation in oral argument. There are two preliminary rounds of oral argument followed by quarter final round and semi-final round. There are eliminations after each round of the oral competition. After the semi-final round the four competitors with the highest oral scores from the prior rounds are determined and named as the "finalists." The "finalists" compete in the final round for the award of "Best Oralist." The top scorers from the Spring Competition will become the Scott Moot Court Board for the subsequent school year. (While graduating students, i.e. 3Ls, may compete in the Spring Competition, and even win awards therein, they will NOT be admitted to the Scott Moot Court Honors Board)
What Does the Scott Moot Honors Court Board Do (What Roles are Available)?
The Board is broken up into two sets of roles: competitive appellate advocacy teams and administrators for Board affairs (a.k.a. the Justices). Justices work year-round in supporting administrator roles to the competitive teams and on the development of the problem for the Spring Competition. The competitive team members split their time between practice for their own competition and, in the off-season, development of the Spring Competition problem and support of other teams.
How Do Scott's Competitive Appellate Advocacy Teams Work?
The Board will have approximately 3 competitive teams in a given year, depending on what competitions Loyola has chosen to enter that year. The typical competitive teams include: (a) 1-2 teams for the National Moot Court Competition (fall); (b) 1-2 teams for the American Bara Association Moot Court Competition (spring); and (c) 1 team in the Roger Traynor Moot Court Competition (fall-spring). The Moot Court competitions are generally mock Supreme Court cases where team members are given a problem, take a position, draft a brief in support of that position, and then argue orally to a mock court in support of that position (and, in some competitions, against that position in "off-brief" rounds). In the competition season for that team, team members spend considerable amounts of time, first researching and writing their legal briefs, and then honing oral arguments for both "hot" and "cold" benches composed of volunteer professors, practitioners, judges, and Board members.
What Is the Difference Between Scott Moot Court and the Byrne Team?
Byrne is Loyola's Trial Advocacy competitive team. Scott Moot Court is Loyola's Appellate Advocacy team. The time commitment is comparable for competitive-team members of both Scott and Byrne, but there are no purely supportive roles in Byrne (everyone is on a competitive team).
Can I Be On Both the Byrne Team AND on a Scott Moot Court Competitive Team?
Yes, but the general rule is that students are NOT allowed to be on both Scott and Byrne simultaneously. Members of the Byrne team are generally selected in the fall of a school year from 2Ls and 3Ls (or Evening Division equivalents). Scott Board members are selected in the spring of a school year from 2Ls. So, for example, if you were fortunate enough to be selected for Byrne in the fall of your second year, you could then compete in the spring of your second year to be on Scott Moot Court for your third year, but you could not be on both Scott and Byrne in your third year.
Can I Be on Scott Moot Court and/or the Hobbs Program or Law Review or other Externship at the same time?
Yes. Typically, there are Scott Moot Court Board Members who are simultaneously on law review, or serve on externships or participate in other clinic programs such as Hobbs.
Awards
- Quarterfinals at the National Moot Court Competition in 2012
- Team members at won 1st place for "Best Advocate" and 2nd place for "Best Brief."
- Loyola’s National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Team of Jane Davidson and Andrea Steffan represented Loyola in its first ever appearance at the National Competition in San Diego at USD Law School, where they advanced to round 16 qand won "Bet Respondent Brief."