Moot Court

Hamline’s moot court program prepares students for a series of team competitions with other law schools both regionally and nationally. Each competition is designed to simulate one of four stages of the legal process encountered as a practicing lawyer: the initial interviewing and counseling of the client, negotiation of a settlement, a jury trial, or the briefing and arguing of an appeal.

Students who participate in moot court refine writing and speaking skills while earning academic credit. Their teachers - faculty, attorneys, and judges - assist and support the students’ efforts. Teams are selected through auditions and monitored by alumni coaches.

Hamline’s moot court teams have achieved a national reputation for excellence. Their numerous awards reflect the quality of our students and our program. Teams have won over 30 Best Brief awards and Best Oralist awards, including awards for Best Brief in the Nation in the National Moot Court Competition, Best Memorial Brief in the World Regional Competition in the Jessup International Law Competition, Best Oralist in the World in the Space Law Competition, and three Best Briefs in the Nation in the National Tax Competition. In the past few years, Hamline has actively competed in the following competitions:

Admiralty Competition
This appellate-type competition focuses on issues arising under international maritime law, such as choice-of-law determination in resolving breach of good faith, insurance coverage issues, and definitional questions such as the meaning of the term “vessel”.

Civil Rights Competition
This appellate-type competition utilizes an actual case currently before the United States Supreme Court; topics have included issues of the impact of race on jury selection, age discrimination, desecration of burial grounds, physicianassisted suicide, and violence against women.

Frederick Douglass Competition (for members of the Black Law Students Association
This appellate-type competition for members of the Black Law Students Association involves issues concerning civil rights, such as the statutory and constitutional validity of a raceconscious housing project, environmental racism, reparations, and disparate impact of juvenile sentencing guidelines.

Intellectual Property Law Competition
This appellate-type competition explores issues of copyright, trademark, and patent law. Team members write a brief for the appellant plus a brief for the respondent.

InterAmerican Human Rights Competition
This appellate-type competition concerns issues of violation of human rights and international law such as amnesty requirements, women’s rights, protection during armed conflict, and freedom of political speech. It is situated in the International Court of Justice. Students may argue in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Jessup International Law Competition
This appellate-type competition explores issues arising before the International Court of Justice. Past competitions have involved questions of territorial borders, jurisdiction over refugees, damages owed for property during civil uprisings, validity of economic sanctions, and restoration of historic artifacts.

National Moot Court Competition
This appellate-type competition focuses on legal issues covering a wide range of current topics; problems in past years have included criminal habeas corpus matters, disability law interpretation, sex offender registration, racketeering statutes, environmental remediation responsibilities, protected speech rights, and federal jurisdiction questions.

Native American Law Competition
This appellate-type competition for members of the Native American Law Student Association explores issues concerning constitutional and treaty rights of tribal members, including water rights, land ownership, tribal enrollment restrictions, and criminal jurisdiction.

Space Law Competition
This appellate-type competition focuses on emerging issues involving commercial uses of space and the impact of international law on resolution of those issues.

Tax Moot Court Competition
This appellate-type competition focuses on issues involving substantive and procedural tax rules. Topics may involve family partnership distributions, commercial debt discharge, joint ventures with medical nonprofits, and statute of limitation questions.

Thomas Tang Competition (for members of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association .
This appellate-type competition for members of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association focuses on legal issues related to civil rights, such as English-only laws, reparations measures, jury selection discrimination, or statutory bars to access to rights of other U.S citizens.