The Value Add
The Competitions Program adds value to our students' education, law-school experience, and their future careers. But don't just take our word for it. Hear it from some of our alumni:
"The Competitions Program provides students a special opportunity to develop important advocacy skills, connect with peers, and receive mentorship from alumni."
"Not only did the Program improve my persuasive writing, but the friendships I made and the public speaking and advocacy skills I developed have taken me a long way in my practice."
"My time participating in moot court was the most realistic oral advocacy experience I had going in to practice. In fact, it was the only oral advocacy opportunity I had for a long time, even after becoming licensed. The degree of confidence and understanding of what makes an argument effective off-brief is notably higher in young lawyers that participated in competitions. Moot court imparted practical skills, established the foundation for professional relationships, and (if nothing else) greatly improved my law school experience."
"The Competitions Program helps law students build on vital courtroom skills and general essential legal skills in researching, writing, and arguing nuanced and contemporary legal issues. As a judge of both competitions and practice rounds, I have seen remarkable growth in these skills from law students who participate in the program."
"There was nothing in law school that better prepared me for my career as a litigator more than the Competitions Program. There's no substitute for the on-your-feet thinking and communication skills you gain in competitions."
The Board of Advocates
The Board of Advocates (BoA) is a student organization that promotes oral and written advocacy through intra-school and interschool competitions. The Board is made up entirely of second- and third-year law students who have excelled in moot court, mock trial, client counseling, mediation, and/or arbitration. The Board directly supports the Program through hosting internal and external competition opportunities.
All students are eligible to join the board after their first year. Applying students should value the role that competitions and other experiential opportunities provide students. Additional expectations for applying students can be found on the application. The Board is selected in April each year.
Internal Competitions
The Program works with the Board of Advocates to provide multiple intra-school competition opportunities. The BoA organizes and facilitates two annual intra-school moot court competitions and one intra-school negotiation competition. The Daugherty Moot Court Competition for all second and third year students, as well as the Whitten Burrage Negotiations Competition, which is open to all students, occurs in the fall semester. In the spring, the BoA works with the Legal Research and Writing faculty to facilitate the 1L Moot Court Competition.
In addition to these annual competitions, BOA also facilitates the regional and national inter-school competitions hosted by OU College of Law.
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The Daugherty Moot Court Competition is an intra-school competition hosted during the fall semester by the OU College of Law Board of Advocates. This competition helps the students identify how the United States Constitution affects modern everyday life. Each year, the topic and issues cover a constitutional law problem that is currently being litigated in the courts. Participation in this competition is completely voluntary and open to all OU College of Law second- and third-year students. The participants in the Daugherty Competition do not write a brief, but instead rely on the actual briefs written by the attorneys arguing the case in court. From these briefs the participants prepare and present arguments on both sides of each issue.
The First-Year Competition is associated with the Legal Research and Writing course. All first-year students write appellate briefs and present oral arguments on a case written specifically for them. Each team prepares oral arguments for both sides of the issues. The oral advocacy competition consists of preliminary and elimination rounds. The BOA administers the elimination rounds. The rounds are judged by attorneys, judges, and faculty.
Traveling Competition Teams
Second- and third-year students are eligible to apply to participate on a traveling competition team. Each year, the Program prepares almost 100 students to represent the College of Law as student competitors. Competitions take place across the country.
Moot court competitions mimic real-life appellate advocacy. There is a brief-writing process, as well as an oral-argument component. Students are grouped into teams of two or three students to write the brief and prepare arguments. Each competition is unique but moot court competitions value the combination of written and oral advocacy.
Mock trials involve building a case theory and presenting a trial to a jury or a judge. Students perform opening statements and closing arguments, as well as direct and cross-examine witnesses. Some competitions allow team members to serve as your witness. Other competitions provide the witness for each round. There is generally no writing component included in trial competitions, but this trend may be changing. Mock trials push students to understand the Rules of Evidence in a simulation setting.
Dispute resolution and skills competitions encompass a wide range of competitions. These can be negotiations, mediations, arbitrations, client counseling, and more. Other transactional-focused competitions may also fit into this category. These competitions generally aim for students to learn to resolve disputes before the dispute escalates for formal litigation.