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Holderness Moot Court Overview and Team Descriptions
One of the most recognized student groups at the Carolina School of Law, the Holderness Moot Court Bench offers law students a voluntary competitive organization to develop skills in legal research, written preparation, and oral advocacy. The Moot Court team began in 1951 when Professor Bill Aycock coached a team to the national semifinals. Advocacy within the university continues to this day, and Moot Court's influence can been seen in several events. Moot Court sponsors the annual Gressman-Pollit Awards for oral advocacy in conjunction with the UNC Law Research and Writing Program (RRWA). Members also coordinate the annual J. Braxton Craven Competition; a constitutional law competition recognized as one of the most prestigious appellate advocacy competitions nationwide.
Students can become members of moot court during their second year via the William B. Aycock Intraschool Moot Court Competition. Prospective members may be selected for membership on one of seven competition teams: National, Negotiation, Client Counseling, Invitational, International, Environmental Appellate Advocacy, and Environmental Negotiation. Also selected at that time is the Craven Bench, the panel of members responsible for the administration of the Craven Competition.
Each team focuses on a particular area of law and a distinctive competition format. Students considering trying out for moot court should evaluate which of these formats complement their own interests and talents. There are three types of competitions. The first is the traditional appellate advocacy format, in which two teams argue issues to a panel of judges, similar to the experience first-year students have in the RRWA program. The National, Invitational, Environmental Appellate Advocacy, and International teams compete in this manner. In contrast to the appellate advocacy style competition, the Negotiation and Environmental Negotiation teams engage in direct negotiation with their student adversaries. The only people who speak in a negotiation round are students; judges merely observe and provide after-round analysis. The Client Counseling team competes under a third format. Teams advise a mock client, and judges determine which team best serves the client's needs based on applied legal and personal skills. As in a negotiation setting, the judges play no active role. Unlike the negotiation setting, however, there is no exchange between competing teams.
The remainder of this page contains a short descriptions of each team, including the minimum number of students that will be accepted during each academic year.
Client Counseling Team (4 Members)
The Client Counseling Team is composed of four second-year students chosen in the intraschool competition in the Fall. Team members compete in the Spring at the Regional and National Client Counseling Competitions sponsored by the American Bar Association Law Student Division. The purpose of this team is to develop skills in the preventive and counseling functions of law practice. Previous competition topics have included corporations, partnerships and small business people, employment discrimination, criminal law, and elder law. The team is a great way to develop practical lawyering skills in dealing with clients on a day-to-day basis.
The Craven Bench (7 Members)
The Craven Bench is a panel of nine members of the Holderness Moot Court Bench who organize and run the annual Craven Competition. The Craven Competition is a prestigious appellate advocacy competition that draws participants and judges from the entire country. The Competition requires substantial preparation as it is host to over thirty teams and entails a difficult subject-problem development process. While Craven Bench members do not compete at other schools, their duties related to hosting the Competition entitle them to full membership status in the Holderness Moot Court Bench and the same academic credit as other members of the Moot Court Bench. The Craven Bench consists of the top runners-up from the National, Invitational, Client Counseling, Environmental Negotiation, International, Environmental, and Negotiation teams.
Negotiation Team (4 Members)
The Negotiation Team is composed of four students chosen during their second year during the intraschool competition. Team members compete in the Fall of their third year in the National Negotiation Competition sponsored by the American Bar Association. The competitions involve two person teams in negotiation simulations. Previous topics for competition include corporations, employment discrimination, and family law. Since so few disputes reach trial today, this team is an excellent opportunity to practice an art that is becoming increasingly more important in todays legal environment.
Environmental Negotation Team (4 Members)
The Environmental Negotiation Team is composed of four third-year students chosen during their second year in the intraschool competition. While similar to the Negotiation Team, the Environmental Team focuses on negotiations dealing with current environmental issues. Topics for the past three years have included environmental racism, public land use, and the Clean Air and Water Acts. This focus places a premium on understanding the unique emotional and economic positions of the parties as well as the fundamentals of the applicable regulations involved in environmental disputes. A prior background in environmental law or any scientific discipline, however, is not a prerequisite. As with the other Negotiation Team, the essential skills necessary to be successful are the ability to solicit and control information, to know your opponents limitations and motivations, and to create convincing reasons for supporting your solutions.
Environmental Appellate Advocacy Team (3 Members)
The Environmental Appellate Advocacy Team is composed of three third-year students chosen during their second year in the intraschool competition. This team also focuses solely on current environmental issues. Environmental topics in the past have included environmental racism, public land use, and the Clean Air and Water Act. The same depth of understanding that is necessary to be successful on the Environmental Negotiation Team is also necessary for appellate advocacy competition. However, a background in environmental law or any scientific discipline is not required. To be successful in this competition, as with all appellate advocacy competitions, you must be able to present your argument persuasively while answering questions from the panel. This team competes in the Spring in New York.
International Law Moot Court Team (4 Members)
The Jessup Cup International Moot Court Team is composed of four students chosen in the intraschool competition. Members then compete in the Spring of their second year in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. The Jessup Cup, one of the oldest and most prestigious moot court competitions, is sponsored by the American Society of International Law and the International Law Students' Association. UNC Law competes in the Southeastern Region, and each year the national finals are held in Washington, D.C. As one might expect, the national competition includes teams from several countries. This year the International Team will also select two 2L's to compete in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition during their third year. Should the team win the preliminary round, they will move forward to the final round where they will argue before three members of the International Court of Justice. This unique feature makes the Lachs Space Law competition one of the most prestigious moot court competitions in the world.
Invitational Team (6 Members)
The Invitational Moot Court Team is composed of six third-year students selected during their second year. The Invitational Team is then split into two or three teams. Each individual team competes during the members' third year and may select the competition it attends from various invitational competitions across the country. Past competitions have dealt with such diverse areas of law as evidence, securities law, environmental law, labor law, intellectual property, antitrust, torts, and contract law. Most recently, teams have competed in New York, California, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
National Team (6 Members)
The National Team is composed of six third-year students selected during their second year. National Team members participate in the National Moot Court Competition sponsored by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American College of Trial Lawyers. Divided into two teams of three members, and each team operating independently of the other, the National Team competes in the regional competition held at the courthouse of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The final two teams in the regional competition advance to competition held in New York City.
The 2009-10 Executive Board:
The 2009-10 Executive Committee: