Honors Moot Court External

• Honors Moot Court External Board
• External Competition Administrative Guidelines
• Announcements
• External Competitions

Honors Moot Court External (HMCE) selects the finest legal writers and oral advocates to represent Santa Clara Law against other law schools in the most prestigious moot court competitions in the country. Teams of two to three law students are selected for each competition. Thereafter, these elite teams focus on writing a winning brief and refining oral argument through a series of practice moots with professors, practicing attorneys and members of the judiciary. Past competitions range geographically from Hawaii to Europe, and topically from the First Amendment to environmental law. Please find information on this year's competitions at the link to the right.

Application Information

To apply for an HMCE competition, students must complete Advocacy, be currently enrolled in Advocacy, or have equivalent credit from their prior law school.  The HMCE Board evaluates candidates' legal writing and oral advocacy skills, as well as their experience and knowledge with the subject matter of a particular competition. Prior moot court experience is preferred and a competitive spirit is required. Applications for most competitions generally are collected in the Fall, with some applications being collected in the Spring.  HMCE holds tryouts on a rolling basis from April through January each year.  See the Application Information link to the left for more details. 

Course Credit

Students selected for an External Moot Court team are highly encouraged enroll in Honors Moot Court External 396, and will receive up to 2 course credits for participation in an external competition. There is no formal class requirement, although participants will be required to register for a weekly meeting time slot and attend training sessions and team meetings as needed.

Coaches

A member of the Santa Clara Law faculty or a practicing attorney will serve as a coach for each team.  Generally, Coaches bring both expertise in the competition topic (e.g., refugee law) and experience in appellate advocacy (e.g., brief writing and oral argument skills) or ADR for competitions of other formats.

Expenses

The HMCE Board assigns a budget to each competition and covers the following approved expenses for competitors and coaches: (1) copying, binding, and mailing; (2) flights; (3) hotel; (4) ground transportation; and (5) food during travel.