Law School Advocacy Programs
Nationally recognized teams that build courtroom, negotiation, and appellate skills through rigorous training and competition.
We have a national reputation for our advocacy programs
The Moot Court Board, the Trial Advocacy Board and the Negotiation Team. These entities are co-curricular, student-run organizations that field teams for intercollegiate competitions in, respectively, appellate advocacy, mock trial and negotiation. The members of these groups are chosen through internal competitions beginning in the student’s first year.
Moot Court Board
Our student-led Moot Court Board is nationally recognized, winning several national competitions over the last decade.
The Board hones the oral and written advocacy skills of its members and sends teams to appellate advocacy competitions against other law schools all over the country. In addition to the National Moot Court Competition and the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition, the Board also sends teams to compete in moot courts focused on criminal procedure, free speech, family law, bankruptcy, ethics, entertainment, civil rights and other topics.
Trial Advocacy Board
Our Trial Advocacy Board not only competes in mock trial competitions around the nation, but also provides trial litigation instruction and competition opportunities for all students at the School of Law. The Trial Advocacy Board fields teams in the National Trial Competition, the American Association for Justice Trial Competition and the ABA Labor and Employment Law Trial Competition.
Negotiation Board
The Negotiation Board focuses on one of the most fundamental of all lawyering skills—advocacy. The Board provides students with competitive experiences in transactional, business, and negotiation-based law. The Board works in conjunction with the Business Law Institute and the Business Law Network to provide students with a broad base of opportunities to build their talents as future transactional attorneys. The Negotiation Board hosts an annual in-house negotiation competition in the fall for 2L and 3L students, and in the spring for 1L students. The Board also participates in various regional and national external negotiation competitions. Additionally, the Negotiation Board hosts its own transactional law competition, The Magnolia Cup. This competition involves Law Schools from across the nation and allows competitors to show off their negotiation and transactional law capabilities.