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Law Center moot court to compete in national championship

The UH Law Center’s moot court program is set to compete in the national championship in January after ranking No. 13 across the nation.

UH will go up against 15 other schools that include Chicago Kent College of Law, Emory University School of Law and Texas Tech University Law School. Rankings are based on scores from previous competitions throughout the year that together determine a school’s ability to compete nationally.

“What we do is we take the results from all the moot court competitions from the academic year and we compile all of those results into a ranking,” said Blakely Advocacy Institute Director Jim Lawrence.

Lawrence has served as director of the Blakely Advocacy Institute for seven years and said this is the highest ranking UH has ever received.

“(The ranking) means that the hard work that our students and coaches are putting in is paying off,” Lawrence said. “There’s a really strong team dynamic of achieving success.”

Students will receive a fictitious prompt that is on appeal from a ruling in trial court, often times designed as a Supreme Court case.

“Usually the problems that are created are problems with no answer, so that makes it more challenging for law students,” Lawrence said.

After receiving a brief, students start the eight- to 12-week process of preparing for the competition. Students research the problem, write an appellate brief and then begin preparing for their oral argument. Once students receive a prompt, they are unable to ask anyone for advice until their briefs are submitted.

For the national competition, three students from UH’s moot court program will tackle the responsibility of submitting powerful briefs and arguing their case. This year’s prompt concerns international tax credits and is a tricky one, according to Lawrence.

“Once the brief is turned in, they begin meeting with their coaches and they practice their oral argument, anywhere from two to five times a week,” Lawrence said. “I certainly hope they can win, but it’s an entirely subjective process. You have to have a good brief and good oral arguments.”

As head of the institute, Lawrence decides which students will compete at different competitions. His criteria for choosing students consist of four factors: a student’s interest, presentation style, team composition and gut instinct.

“I want to have team members that complement each other,” Lawrence said. “I look for presentational styles that are complimentary and not too similar so that I get some balance on the team.”

Lawrence said students should be proud of the law center’s achievements. The ranking has brought national attention to the University. Law Center alumni will be responsible for holding the national competition, which is set for the weekend of Jan. 21 at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Houston.

“I cant even begin to tell you about all the emails from schools from across the country that I get, asking about the rankings, how to further their own programs,” Lawrence said. “The rankings have become a national big deal. It’s really a premier competition.”

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