Moot Court Competitions

Rutgers Law School students can enhance their advocacy skills by training and competing on teams against other law schools, regionally, nationally, and internationally in mock trial, appellate moot court, mediation, negotiation, and arbitration competitions. If selected to participate on one of the competition teams, second- and third-year students train with faculty coaches and experienced members of the bar and then represent Rutgers Law School at the regional, national, and international competitions.

Because of their extensive preparation, excellent coaching, and trial, oral advocacy, and mediation skills, Rutgers Law School students have a strong record of success at these competitions. Students interested in participating on one of the teams should consider taking relevant skills courses early in their second year to gain the skills necessary to be selected for a team.

Judge Leonard I. Garth Competition

On April 11, 2017, Rutgers Law School held the first-ever Judge Leonard I. Garth Competition. Two-person teams from Camden and Newark competed against each other before a three-judge panel that included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito over a mock First Amendment case. Justice Alito was joined on the panel by Michael Chagares, a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and retired New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein.

The competition is named after Judge Garth, who was a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for over 40 years, and a well-known figure at Rutgers Law School, having served as an adjunct professor of appellate advocacy for 20 years. His law clerks created a fund that sponsored an annual lecture series in his name, and before his death in 2016, he approved converting the program to an appellate moot court competition between teams of law students from both the Camden and Newark locations.

Moot Court Competitions - Camden

Offering an extensive moot court program with a long tradition of success and excellence, each year, upper-level students in Camden compete in national and international moot court competitions that foster collaboration, provide experiential learning, and encourage excellence in critical oral advocacy and brief writing skills. Competitions include:

Baseball Arbitration in New Orleans
BMI Entertainment and Communications Competition in New York City
Frederick Douglass Moot Court
John J. Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Moot Court
The American Intellectual Property Association Giles-Sutherland Competition
Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (the world's largest moot court competition)
ABA Law Student National Representation in Mediation Competition
Saul Lefkowitz Competition in U.S. trademark and unfair competition law
Thurgood Marshall Mock Trial
Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition

Internationally, Rutgers Law School regularly participates in the Vis Arbitration Competition in Vienna, Austria, and, in the past, has been one of the few American teams selected to compete at the Oxford International Intellectual Property Moot Court Competition. Finalists and winners at these competitions are regularly featured on the law school's home webpage.

Intraschool Competition offers an additional way for students to sharpen their oral and written advocacy skills. All first-year students participate in the 1L Moot Court program, which is run in conjunction with the Legal Research and Writing Program. Upper-level students can compete to participate in the yearlong Hunter Moot Court program, which includes a writing component in the fall and an intensive oral argument competition in the spring. Selected Hunter students may be invited to serve as Hunter Board members in their 3L year.

The opportunities for honing advocacy and writing skills are many, and students are invited to explore other competitions and moot court opportunities not listed here.

Moot Court Competitions - Newark

In Newark, the Moot Court Board organizes and support teams attending various regional, national, and international competitions. Members of the board are selected each spring through a competitive try-on process and compete in either the fall Nathan Baker Trial Competition or the spring David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competition. The two competitions are also open to students who are not members of the board. The board also runs other training and informational events open to all students. Associate Dean Andrew Rossner serves as faculty adviser to the board.

The National Mock Trial Team competes in regional and national trial competitions. Team members are selected at a spring try-on competition at the end of their first or second year. Team members receive intensive training in the following year through a team trial advocacy class, taking evidence, and an intensive team practice schedule. The National Appellate Team is selected through the Cohn Competition and, once selected, receive intensive training in oral advocacy.

Rutgers Law School students have taken part in the following competitions:

The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (sponsored by the International Law Students Association)
ICC International Commercial Mediation Competition (sponsored by the ICC International Centre for ADR)
The Price Media Law Moot Court Programme Competition (sponsored by University of Oxford)
The Dean Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition (sponsored by Brooklyn Law School)
National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition (sponsored by Pace University School of Law)
Herbert J. Wechsler National Criminal Law Moot Court Competition (sponsored by the University at Buffalo Law School)
The Annual August A. Rendigs Jr. National Products Liability Moot Court Competition (sponsored by the University of Cincinnati College of Law)
Annual Irving R. Kaufman Memorial Securities Law Moot Court Competition (sponsored by Fordham University School of Law)
BMI Entertainment and Communications Law Moot Court Competition (sponsored by Cardozo Law School)