First Year Competition

The Antonin Scalia Law School Moot Court Board is pleased to host:

THE 2017 FIRST YEAR COMPETITION (FYC)

Date and Location: The preliminary and advancing rounds of the competition will be at Antonin Scalia Law School on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2. The final round will be on Friday, April 7 at the Eastern District of Virginia courthouse in Alexandria.

Information Session: The Moot Court Board will host an appellate advocacy seminar on March 26th at 6pm (room location TBD).

General Information: The First Year Competition (FYC) is an oral advocacy competition in which all students enrolled in LRWA II – Trial Level Writing must participate. The problem argued is the same problem for which students prepare memoranda for class. The judges for the competition, as with all three of the MCB competitions, are local practitioners and judges, including many GMUSL and MCB alumni.

Unlike traditional Moot Court competitions, students compete alone rather than in teams and the problem is based on a trial-level motion rather than an appeal of a trial court decision. Students also argue only a single side of the problem, whereas Moot Court competitions typically require arguments both on- and off-brief.

The FYC runs over three days. On the first day, every 1L argues once. The Competition Committee works with the LRWA faculty to identify all LRWA students and schedule the arguments.

At the conclusion of the preliminary round, the Scoring Committee compiles the scores, normalizes to account for particularly “extraordinary” judges, and announces advancing competitors and alternates. The precise number of advancing competitors is within the discretion of the Chief Justice and the Competition Co-Chairs.

On the next competition day, the advancing competitors argue once more in the morning, in pairings assigned by the Competition Committee. This often requires two shifts, depending on the number of rooms and judges available. At the conclusion of the first advancing round, the Scoring Committee normalizes the scores for the round and announces 16 competitors, 8 for each side, to compete in the octofinals. In the afternoon, competitors argue in octofinals and the top 8 competitors then compete in the quarterfinals. Scores for these rounds are not normalized.

The competitors in the semifinals, argued at the end of the second day, argue before a single panel of distinguished judges, who select a finalist plaintiff and finalist defendant.

The finalists argue before a panel of distinguished judges on a subsequent Friday afternoon. All LRWA II students are required to attend this argument or view of video of it later that evening.