Honors Moot Court

Welcome to the Honors Moot Court website at Santa Clara University. This website was designed to provide answers to frequently asked questions about the Honors Moot Court program. Please direct all general questions, or questions about the internal competitions (HMCI) to CABarnett@scu.edu. Please direct all questions regarding external competitions (HMCE) to PKlineSimon@scu.edu.

Honors Moot Court provides opportunities for students to participate in Internal or External Competitions. Click on the links below, or the links on the left menu bar, to view information on each competition.

Internal Competition (HMCI): Each year the School of Law conducts an in-house appellate moot court competition. Enrollment is limited. Students are selected to participate by the student-run Internal Moot Court Board based on a try-out application combined with evaluation of performance oral and written components of the Advocacy course, the second-year legal writing course. Students must complete the application on the deadline established by the internal moot court board. Selected students are permitted to register for Honors Moot Court – Internal Competition (HMCI) in the spring semester.

External Competitions (HMCE): The School of Law also enters student teams in a number of inter-school, or external, moot court competitions. These are hosted by law schools and other organizations around the country and internationally in various subjects (Constitutional law, criminal procedure, copyright, trademark, environmental law, international law, etc.). Many of the teams are selected, and problems distributed late in the fall semester, with briefs due and oral arguments held during the spring semester. Others are held during the fall semester, and require team selections earlier in the school year, or over the preceding summer. Eligibility to participate and receive credit therefore is limited and is based on application and demonstration of ability.

The Internal Honors Moot Court Board and External Honors Moot Court Board, each are comprised of third-year law students and each board oversees the management of their respective programs each academic year. The faculty advisor for Internal Honors Moot Court Board is Prof. Evangeline Abriel who may be contacted at EAbriel@scu.edu and for the External Honors Moot Court Board is Prof. Karin Carter, who may be contacted at KCCarter@scu.edu.