Advocacy Program

Appellate Advocacy

The Stephen S. Weinstein Advocacy Program offers multiple appellate advocacy course sections in civil cases, with an emphasis on federal courts. This course is devoted to brief writing and oral argument techniques, and also provides an overview of appellate procedure, including jurisdiction, finality, the collateral order doctrine, interlocutory appeals, mandamus, standards of review, and issue preservation and harmless error.

Students who want to hone their appellate advocacy skills may apply to join the Moot Court Honor Society, one of four recognized student organizations that send their members to compete in local, regional, national and international law school competitions.

In the last five years, the students of the Moot Court Honor Society have won six championships, and finished in the top eight in more than 20 competitions. In addition to these team wins, the students also earned numerous brief and oralist awards. Notably, they have won the Mid-Atlantic U.S. Regional Round of the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in four of the last five years and have finished in the top 32 at the international rounds in 2018 and 2019.

To learn more about the Moot Court Honor Society and the three other student competition teams, please visit the Competition Teams webpage on this website.