Eastern Michigan University's Moot Court finished in the top 10 in the annual national moot court competition. This is held every year by the American Collegiate Moot Association. More than 80 teams competed, Jan. 15-16.
Eastern's 3-year-old Moot Court team has had success in the past. In 2013, it was undefeated in its inaugural regional competition. In the press release, EMU professor Robert Dobronski said that Eastern’s team has made a remarkable amount of progress in a short amount of time.
“This year was a true coming out party for the moot court program,” he said in a press release. “We went head to head with the elite programs of the nation and earned the respect of every team and program in the nation.”
This year, Student Body President Steven Cole, Maya Rich, Anthony Gonzales and Jordan Miles represented Eastern at California State University, in Long Beach. Rich and Cole finished third nationwide in the oral advocacy and petitioner brief competition, according to a press release from University Communications. Gonzales and Miles finished 7th in the respondent brief competition.
Moot Courts are academic versions of courtrooms, designed to let students considering law school practice. Students from different schools form real legal arguments for theoretical cases, which are judged by a panel. Moot court cases are appeals cases. When submitting a brief, students have to use the formatting, vocabulary and procedures that would actually be presented to the US Supreme Court. In this case, the teams were arguing over whether the Federal Government can deny a college student an education if they are an undocumented immigrant.
