A highlight of the upper-level curriculum is the Judge James Hunter
III Moot Court Program. A memorial to Judge Hunter, a United States
Court of Appeals judge who sat in Camden, the program is endowed by his
former law clerks. Many second-year (2L) and third-year (3L) students participate in the program
to sharpen brief-writing and oral advocacy skills. The Hunter program
involves a more complex problem than those encountered in the first
year, and participants brief and argue in teams of two. The program is
structured on an elimination format, with an elimination round and
octofinal, quarterfinal, semifinal, and final rounds of arguments.
Briefs and arguments are scored to determine advancement from round to
round. The final round argument is held before a distinguished panel of
judges in the United States Courthouse in Camden, with a panel
typically including judges from the United States Court of Appeals and
the United States District Court, and the justices from the New Jersey
Supreme Court.
Selected students who display excellence in
advocacy skills are invited to participate in extramural moot court
competitions on behalf of the law school. The law school routinely
enters teams in the National Moot Court Competition, Jessup
International Moot Court Competition, National Black Law Students
Association Frederick Douglass Competition, National Latino Law
Students Association Moot Court Competition, and International
Environmental Law Moot Court Competitions, among others.
