Spring Qualifying Tournament: General Information

The Moot Court Board encourages all first and second year full-time students and first-, second- or third-year part-time WCL students to compete in the Spring Qualifying Tournament. The Spring Qualifying Tournament is the qualifying competition for participation on Inter-School Moot Court Team. In order to compete in national competitions the following year, such as the Jerome Prince Evidence Competition in New York City and the Freedom Forum First Amendment Competition in Nashville, Tennessee, students must excel in the Spring Qualifying Tournament. Generally, around fifteen students qualify.

The Spring Qualifying Tournament requires students to research and prepare their own briefs, as well as plan and present oral arguments. Executive Board members, faculty and practitioners serve as judges for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. Judges, faculty, and practitioners serve as panelists in the final round. While the competition will produce a champion, it remains a qualifying tournament and, roughly, the top fifteen students will be selected to join the Inter-school Team.

The Spring Qualifying Tournament, typically, is scheduled in February or March of the Spring semester. Care is taken to schedule the competition around The Joint-Journal Short Write-on Competition and Legal Rhetoric and Writing assignments. While participation in this tournament is challenging, given that competitors are required to argue both on brief and off brief, students are afforded the opportunity to travel across the nation and compete against the country's best law students.

There are a number of advantages to joining the Moot Court Honor Society. Employers value the communication, organization, leadership skills that students develop while participating in Moot Court activities. The Moot Court Honor Society is the longest standing and most prestigious advocacy group at WCL. If you came to law school looking to get into court to present arguments, get ready for some great competitions and unparralleled learning opportunities.

Moot Court fields both Trial Advocacy and Appellate Teams, and expects to increase the number of Trial Advocacy Teams Moot Court will field in the coming year. We currently attend the two most prestigious trial advocacy competitions in the country, the American Trial Lawyers' Association (ATLA) Tournament and the National Trial Competition (NTC). For all competitions that the Moot Court Honor Society attends, Moot Court retains the right of first refusal, meaning that no other student organization may attend the competition if Moot Court is sending a team to the competition.