Tuesday October 30, 2007

All first-year law students at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law participate during the spring in our G. Mennen Williams Moot Court competition. This provides a great opportunity to take the skills learned during much of the first year and apply them to arguing a case in front of a bench of judges.

But what I have been particularly pleased with as Dean is that so many of our students have enjoyed this experience so much that they go on to compete to be part of our school’s external moot court teams during their second and third years. In fact, last spring, nearly 100 students competed to gain a coveted spot on one of our national teams.

Those who won those spots--we will be competing this year in 13 separate national competitions--have a great record on which to build from last year. In fact, an independent moot court blog recently named our school’s moot court performance 17th best in the nation.

This year, we have added an extra opportunity for our student moot court teams by bringing in national experts from around the country to help them. For example, our students recently were treated to a private lecture on preparing oral arguments by Dan Bromberg, one of the leading national appellate attorneys at the California-based Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP.

We have also put together teams of experts from law firms around the nation to assist our team members as they prepare for oral arguments. (Each competition has its own rules regarding outside assistance. Of course, we follow those rules scrupulously.) Students slated to argue in the national Corporate Law moot court competition will have the opportunity to bounce their arguments off leading corporate law attorneys at firms such as Baker & McKenzie LLP; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone PLC; Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP; Pepper Hamilton LLP; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & From LLP & Affiliates; and Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP. The members of the Intellectual Property competition will be able to interact with attorneys from places such as Amazon.com, Jones Day and Morrison & Foerster LLP.

Why are we doing this? First, as Dean I believe that students learn best when they are exposed to a wide range of minds--both theoretical and practical. As a school, we call on the best around the nation to provide that. Second, exposure to these leading experts provides both excellent training for our students and a host of wonderful networking opportunities. Whether our teams come home national champions or fall short, their experiences on moot court are superb learning and training moments, as well as chances to meet, learn from, and impress some pretty impressive people in the business.

If you are thinking about attending University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and are interested in speaking with students competing on our national teams, be sure to e-mail us (udmlawao@udmercy.edu) so that we can put you in touch with them.