Moot Court

Now in its fourth decade of excellence, Howard Payne’s Moot Court team consistently places its competitors among the top speakers and teams in the nation. Howard Payne regularly qualifies teams for the American Moot Court Association (AMCA) national tournament. HPU can also proudly claim an AMCA National Champion Team (2002) and an AMCA National Brief Writing Championship (2015).

Students in Moot Court are assigned a hypothetical appellate case, where the decisions of judges are based not on the “facts of the case” but rather on the “interpretation of the law.” The issues are constitutional in nature and require extensive understanding of case law. Teams use real-world case precedent and jurisprudence to build arguments. More than just performance, though, Moot Court students must demonstrate high analytical skills–they are required to argue both sides of the case in different rounds of competition.

Alumni of the Moot Court program maintain that their experience here helped prepare them for success in law school. For some, Moot Court competitions and awards led directly to scholarships from law schools. But for all competitors, the Moot Court program promises to challenge and to train you in the skills–reading, thinking, speaking, and more–that bode well for success in both law school and the “real world.”

For more information about Moot Court, please contact Kenan Boland, director of the moot court program and assistant professor of government, at kboland@castingmoldingmachine.com.