I write to you all from New York Law School, where I’m visiting this week as coach of my law school’s labor and employment moot court team. NYLS hosts the Wagner Competition every year, and it’s been a lot of fun. It gives me a chance to get back in the game and reactivate my old appellate litigation and L&E experience, and it’s nice to get to know the students (or at least two of them) quite a bit better. We actually have two coaches — myself and a distinguished and experienced L&E litigator — and I tend to think that we complement each other in some nice ways.
So a question to you all: Do other schools do this? Do other schools have faculty (tenured, tenure-track, otherwise?) acting as advisors/coaches to moot court competition teams? Do they travel with the students? I think it’s rare but I have heard of it at other places, and wanted to inquire more generally. I actually got started in this as a favor to a friend and it does take up a good bit of time and energy, but I have to say — I really enjoy it, and I think the students get a tremendous amount out of it.
P.S. If you happen to be going to the Wagner Ball, I’ll see you there — and feel free to drop me a note…
Posted by Chris Lund on March 13, 2009 at 01:24 PM
Comments
I just got back from the Wagner Competition myself — sorry I didn’t read this thread earlier or I would have looked for you at the Ball.
Going to a moot court competition with students is, genuinely, one of the high points of the year for me. Smart, talented students working hard and deeply engaged in issues in areas of law I teach and write in? It’s a fantastic experience I highly recommend.
Posted by: Joseph Slater | Mar 16, 2009 1:28:07 PM
As for first class entertainment I am sure that the Brooklyn Law School is at the top, or at least in the Top 5, in hosting the Prince Evidence Competition. The closing dinner/dance was at Tavern on the Green … Central Park, fantastic view of the New York skyline, great food, live music, enthusiastic students, and “old folks” like me and my wife thinking we were still 25 or so … plus we stayed at a hotel only a short walk from Brooklyn Heights and the Brooklyn Bridge. It has been a couple of years but we had a super time … and so did the students on the UGA Law School team!
Posted by: David Shipley | Mar 14, 2009 8:19:48 PM
The ABA Client Counseling Competition national finals is this weekend at Univ. of North Carolina Central Law. Many faculty coaches seem to have traveled here for the event, and it has been a great experience for our students. Our school sends teams and faculty coaches to four or five national competitions.
Posted by: CoachProf | Mar 14, 2009 11:39:56 AM
At William and Mary, we usually have judges (from state and federal courts) to preside over most of our rounds, with a few practicing attorneys to fill the gaps. But it’s not uncommon to have faculty judge. Not only is judging helpful to students, but it’s usually pretty enjoyable for faculty, so I’d definitely recommend doing it.
Posted by: W&M | Mar 14, 2009 10:12:46 AM
At Georgia quite a few of us on the tenured and tenure-track regularly bench our moot court and mock trial teams and judge the semi-finals in our several intra-mural competitions but it is fairly rare for us to travel with the teams. I went with our Prince Evidence Team to Brooklyn Law School a couple years ago (fantastic competition) and one of my colleagues made the same trip with the team a year or two before me but this is rare. For the most part our Director of Advocacy travels with the teams or asks alumni to make the trip – we have very strong alumni support for our moot court and mock trial programs.
Posted by: David Shipley | Mar 14, 2009 7:13:33 AM
I judged the Wagner Competition for many years. It was always a great one for the students, and I was always very impressed with how well they did. I actually wrote the fact pattern for it 28 years ago, when I thought my future would be labor law.
These national competitions are definitely worth the time and effort, and provide a great experience for the students.
Posted by: shg | Mar 14, 2009 5:29:39 AM
We do at Southwestern too: faculty both advise and travel. Our assessment is the same as yours. It’s a lot of work, but students generally get a tremendous amount out of it.
Posted by: AP | Mar 13, 2009 4:48:22 PM
We do at WVU…
Posted by: Michael Risch | Mar 13, 2009 4:05:35 PM