Every spring, the Moot Court Board at George Mason School of Law sponsors the First Year Competition to introduce first year law students to the art of oral advocacy. The event provides students with the opportunity to be critiqued by attorneys and judges who preside over the individual rounds. At the end of each argument, students receive invaluable feedback to help them assess the strengths and weaknesses of their oral communication. In addition, the competition serves as a catalyst for some students who discover that they have a passion for the courtroom.

The competition simulates a hearing on a pre-trial motion that is based on the writing problem from the first year students' second semester of Legal Research, Writing, and Analysis. The first round of the competition is mandatory and is part of the legal writing curriculum. However, students may voluntarily participate in the advancing rounds. Advancement is a great way for students to distinguish themselves in their first year.

During each round of the competition, each student argues for ten minutes. Then, the judges score the competitors, and the scores are weighted according to how the same judge scored other participants. The first round of the 2009 competition will take place on Saturday, March 28, and the advancing rounds will be the following Saturday, April 4. The final round will take place on Friday, April 10.

Overall, the competition is an exciting way to finish the year and the Trial Level writing course. The students compete before respected judges who are always impressed with the quality of George Mason's first year students.

2010 GMU First Year Competition Dates March 20 FYC Preliminary Rounds March 27 FYC Advancing Rounds April 9 3:00 p.m. - FYC Finals at the E.D. Va. Courthouse

 

2008 First Year Competition

This year the preliminary round of the First Year Moot Court Competition will be held at the law school on March 29, 2008, with the advancing rounds also at the law school on April 5, 2008. The final round will be held on April 11, 2008, location to be determined.

More details will be available as the date of the competition nears.

2007 First Year Competition

The Moot Court Board is proud to announce the focus of this year's First Year Competition is Celebrating Diversity Within the Law. This competition theme is a tradition that began during last year's competition. To highlight this theme, our goal for the competition is to have every judging panel in the competition reflect the numerous perspectives that are a part of our legal community. By incorporating judges with different backgrounds throughout the competition, we hope to provide our student body with an opportunity to develop their oral advocacy skills in a diverse atmosphere.

Specifically, this year's problem involves a motion for a protective order relating to a privileged document that was inadvertently disclosed to opposing counsel. The first-year students have been analyzing this issue under North Carolina law.

The Moot Court Board will host the Preliminary Round of the Competition on Saturday, March 24, 2007 at George Mason University School of Law from 8:00 AM until 6:00 PM.

The Advancing Rounds will be held on Saturday, March 31, 2007 at the law school from 8:00 AM until 4:00 PM.

The Final Round of the Competition will be held on Friday, April 13, 2007 at 3:30 PM at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.


Recap of the 2006 First Year Competition

The final round of the 2006 First Year Moot Court Competition was held on Friday, Friday, April 7, 2006 at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The two finalists, Jeremy Tigan and Uzoma Nkwonta, argued a motion for preliminary injunction involving a covenant not to compete before a distinguished panel of federal and state judges. The panel included the Honorable James W. Benton, Senior Judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia, the Honorable Gerald Bruce Lee of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and the Honorable Leslie Alden of the Fairfax County Circuit Court.

This argument represented the culmination of a first-year writing course competition, in which all first-year students participated in oral arguments involving the same fact pattern. After four rounds of competition, two finalists advanced to argue the final round in the competition. For over thirty minutes, the distinguished panel peppered the finalists with questions about the fact pattern and actual cases in front of an audience of more than 100 of their fellow classmates, faculty members, family and friends.

Congratulations to Jeremy Tigan and Uzoma Nkwonta for their outstanding performance.