Hooray for me!
I found out today I was awarded Distinguished Delegate for moot court (along with a nice plaque), which means I was one of the top 10 performers overall in the fall and spring competitions. The real upside of the deal is that it means I get to participate in external competitions next year (national, etc.), which I really wanted to do. I did a lot of traveling around to debate tournaments at college, and I miss that. Should be fun.
posted by Todd Martin at 5:22 PM
1 Comments:
Thank you!
Moot court is kind of a masochistic form of "fun." Essentially you are simulating advocacy in front of the Supreme Court. Unlike a trial court, there are no witnesses or anything like that. Instead, you write a brief (32 pages each semester this year - ugh), arguing for some sort of position based on Constitutional law. In the fall I was arguing that not providing a grab bar for a disabled prisoner constituted cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th amendment, and in the spring I was arguing that a suspicionless search of a parolee is reasonable under the 4th amendment. Then comes the really fun part, as you have to speak in front of a panel of judges, who essentially grill you with questions for 15 minutes, trying their best to intimidate you, throw you off your game and generally harass you. So the exercise is 1/3 writing and argument, 1/3 speaking and 1/3 ability to resist intimidation.
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