Our internal competitions are held throughout the academic year and all law students are eligible to compete. Participating in Moot Court is a great way to practice advocacy skills, whether as a 1L, 2L, or 3L. Moot Court is especially great preparation for first-year students, as they will have graded oral aguments in their legal advocacy class. Each competition is held on three weekday evenings (two days for the preliminary round and one for finals). In the preliminary rounds, competitors need only show up for their assigned time slot.
The Client Counseling Competition is a great introduction to the Moot Court Program. It is designed to assist students in perfecting the interviewing, counseling, and communication skills necessary in the practice of law. Each competitor acts as an attorney interviewing a new client, while judges observe the interaction and provide the student with feedback after the interview. Client Counseling is the first competition held during the school year. Very little preparation is required, and historically a 1L has often won.
The Jenckes Closing Argument Competition is an annual competition between the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU and the James E. Rogers College of Law at U of A. Students prepare and present a closing argument based on a closed case file. During the intraschool competition, two winners and two alternates are selected. The winners then go on to compete against a team from the University of Arizona for the coveted Jenckes Cup. The two winners and two alternates from ASU receive Bar/Bri discounts.
The Oral Argument Competition is held early in the spring semester and is a chance for students to hone their appellate oral argument skills. Many first-year students use this competition to prepare for the graded oral argument in their spring semester writing classes. Participants are provided with materials with which to prepare their argument. The competition is designed to test the participant's preparation and ability to quickly and articulately answer spontaneous questions from the judging panel. The winner and runner up traditionally have received monetary prizes.
The Oplinger Competition is a closing-argument competition prepared from a closed case file, and is sponsored by the Arizona Association of Defense Counsel. The competition is held in the spring and the four winners receive monetary prizes.
This competition is not counted as one of the four intraschool competitiongs. It does have an intraschool aspect designed to select teams for an external competition. The winners of the intraschool competition have the opportunity to compete regionally as a team. ASU has a long history of doing well in this competition, frequently winning the regional competition and placing among the top teams nationally.