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The following represent the official rules of the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
(the "Rules").
RULE I
Organization Of The National Environmental Competition
The National Environmental Law
Moot Court Competition (the “Competition”) is an annual inter-law school
appellate moot court Competition sponsored by Pace University School of Law
(“Pace”). The purpose of
the Competition is to develop expertise in environmental law appellate
advocacy. The Competition is
coordinated by the National Environmental Law Moot Court Board (the
“Board”), which is comprised of students of Pace and their faculty advisors,
and by the Administration of Pace.
RULE II
The Problem And Rules And Their Use In
Other Competitions
The Problem and Rules are
prepared by the Board and provided to each Team for its use in preparing for
participation in the Competition. Schools
may not use the current Problem for intramural runoff competitions for the
current year’s National Competition; they may, however, use past Problems.
Schools may use the current Problem, after completion of the National
Competition, for intramural competitions or other academic purposes, with
appropriate attribution to Pace Law School.
RULE
III. The Teams
A. Number and composition of
Teams.
Each school may
enter only one team (the “Team”). The
Team shall be composed of two or three law students, all of whom must be
registered law students seeking a juris
doctor degree and in good standing at their school at the time of brief
writing and oral argument. There
are to be no alternate Team members. Each
Team member must argue in at least one preliminary round.
B. Substitution of Team
Members.
There shall be no substitution of Team members after
receipt of the Problem, except for extreme hardship, upon written
permission of the Board.
C. Team Numbers.
Upon registration, each Team will be assigned a Team number. This number should be referenced in any
correspondence with the Board.
RULE IV. The Briefs
A. General.
Each Team may write only one brief. The Team may choose which side
to write for the brief, but
will argue all sides of the Problem during the Competition’s preliminary rounds.
Only the members of the Team who will actually be arguing may
participate in writing the brief. The
use of the work product of any person other than a Team member to prepare
the brief is strictly prohibited. Work
product does not include materials of the type generally used by attorneys
to prepare briefs and available for public use.
B. Length and form of briefs.
1. The measuring brief. As set forth in Rule IV (C)(1), each Team shall submit to the Board
the printed original of its brief (the “Measuring Brief”), which shall
be used solely for the purpose of judging the criteria of this section. The Measuring Brief, including footnotes, must be printed on 8-1/2 x
11 inch paper in 12-point, Times New York Roman type. Printed matter must be double spaced, appear on one side of each page
only and should not cover an area of more than 6-1/2 x 9-1/2 inches per
page. Measuring Briefs printed
on two sides will not be accepted. Total
length of the Measuring Brief, excluding Questions Presented, Index, Table
of Contents, List of Citations and Appendices, may not exceed thirty-five
(35) pages. The cover shall
include the Team number at the upper right hand corner, with the school name
and the names of individual Team members appearing at the lower right hand
corner. The Measuring Brief
shall be bound into a volume or fastened with three staples at the left
margin. Each Team must also
submit a 3.5 inch computer diskette containing the Measuring Brief in Word
Perfect version 6.0 or above, or Word 97 or above.
2. Other copies. Other copies of the brief which are required for
submission shall be
identical reproductions of the original Measuring Brief except as otherwise
specified in Rule IV (b)(3). Each copy shall be printed on 8-1/2 x 11 inch paper and shall
be bound or stapled on the left margin in the same fashion as the Measuring
Brief. Other briefs, however,
may be duplicated on either one or two sides of the page.
3. Format. Although
the Competition case is argued before the Court of Appeals, all briefs shall
be in the format used before the Supreme Court of the United States, as
modified by these Rules.
All citations shall be complete and in the form prescribed in the Harvard
Law Association’s Uniform System of Citation (Bluebook) (17th ed., 2000). Appendices may be used to recite the text of statutes, constitutional
provisions, regulations and materials that are not generally available.
The
Team number, school name and names of Team members shall appear on the
outside cover of the Measuring Brief in accordance with Rule IV (B)(1). On all other briefs submitted, only the Team number shall be
included on the outside cover of the brief. Briefs shall not be signed, nor shall any identifying material appear
in the brief.
4. Certification.
Each Team submitting a brief in the Competition shall certify that
such brief has been prepared in accordance with these Rules and that the
work product is solely that of the Team’s members.[3]
C. Service of briefs and certification.
1. Service upon the Board.
a. Each Team shall serve
upon the Board, in a single
package bearing the Team name and number
and
postmarked no later than December 3,
i. The Measuring Brief, clearly marked “Measuring
Brief”;
ii. One (1) computer diskette containing the Measuring
Brief (pursuant to Rule IV(B)(1));
iii. Ten (10) copies of the Team brief; and
iiii.
The
Team’s original certification (pursuant to Rule
IV(B)(4)).
b. Briefs served upon the Board shall be directed to:
Pace University School Of Law
National
Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
Preston 212
78 North Broadway
White Plains, New York 10603
Packages
containing briefs must bear a postmark or some
other indicia proving date of
mailing.
2. Service of briefs (not the measuring brief) on opposing
Teams.
Each Team must e-mail a copy of its brief as an attachment by
12:00
midnight,
December 3, 2001 to Carole
Speight at Pace
University School of Law at the following e-mail address:
cspeight@law.pace.edu.
The briefs will be made available to
competitors on the
Competition’s Internet site.
3.
Revision
of briefs:
A
Team may not revise its brief after its submission to the
Board.
RULE V. SCORING
A. Briefs.
The Pace Environmental Law Review, the Pace International
Law Review, the
Pace Law Review and a
committee of experienced litigators shall score all
briefs submitted and shalll select the best brief for each party opponent in the
Competition. The brief score shall be used to determine advancement to the
quarterfinal round.
B.
Preliminary rounds.
1. Time and place.
All rounds of arguments shall be held on the campus of the Pace
University School of Law. Preliminary
rounds will take place on a schedule
announced from year to year by the
Board.
2.
Number of arguments.
Each Team will argue in three preliminary rounds; each Team will
argue a different party position each round. At
the conclusion of the three preliminary rounds the twenty-seven Teams with
the highest total preliminary scores
shall advance to the quarter-final rounds.
3.
Ties.
Ties shall be broken in favor of the Team that has the highest aggregate
point differences over its opponents in the three preliminary rounds.
In the event tying Teams have the same aggregate point difference over their
opponents, the tie shall be broken in favor of the Team having the higher brief score.
4. Byes, assignment of Teams for arguments.
Byes,
if any, Team grouping, and party shall be randomly selected,
except as qualified by Rule V(B)(2). No
Team shall draw more than one
bye during the preliminary rounds. Assignment
for successive arguments
shall be announced as soon as reasonably practicable following the
completion of the preceding round.
C. Final rounds.
The quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds will take place on a schedule
announced
from time to time by the Board. Twenty-seven (27) Teams shall progress to the
quarter-final round. The best Team from each trio in the quarter-final round will be
selected by the judges based on the oral argument and will advance to the
semi-final
round of the Competition. The best Team from each trio in the semi-final round will be
selected by the judges based on the oral argument and will advance to the
final round
of the Competition.
D.
Order, timing and results of arguments.
1. Participants.
Any two members of a Team may participate in any argument, but two
members must participate in each argument. In the case ofthree-member
Teams, each member should argue twice, but must argue at least once
during the preliminary rounds. Each Team participant in each preliminary
round will argue two issues. Either Team member may rebut on any issue.
A Team member not participating in an argument may be of counsel.
2. Time
allowed for arguments.
Oral
argument shall be limited to a total of thirty minutes per Team, fifteen
(15)
minutes for each Team member, except as discussed below. Judges, in
their
discretion, may interrupt arguments to ask questions but may not allow
additional
time. Each party, by advance stipulation, may reserve up to five (5)
minutes for
rebuttal.
Rebuttal time may be subtracted from either or both of the two arguing
Team members’ time allotment. (Example: Team Member # 1 may argue
for 13
minutes, Team Member # 2 may argue for 12 minutes, thus reserving 5 minutes
for
rebuttal by either Team Member). Only one Team member may rebut.
3. Results
The
Best Oralists for each preliminary round will be announced by the judges.
The oral scores will not be announced, but shall be determined by the
judges
without knowledge of the brief score, and shall be arithmetically
weighed and
combined with the brief score by the Board under the formula
described in Rule
V(A) and (B) with scores computed to decimals or
fractional points, as
necessary. The winning Teams for the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds
will be announced by the judges.
Team
scores and the Team Brief scores will be sent to the Team within three (3)
months after the Competition. Scores are no longer considered confidential
after the Competition. A single listing of all final scores will be sent to
participating
Teams. No individual Team member’s scores will be distributed.
RULE
VI. FACULTY OR OTHER ASSISTANCE
No Team shall receive
assistance of any kind prior to filing its brief, nor shall a Team be
assisted in the preparation of its oral argument after filing its brief.
This Rule shall not be construed to prohibit the judgment and general
critique of practice arguments after the brief is filed.
Assistance by faculty members, coaches, Team advisors, and others
shall be limited to a general discussion of the issues, suggestions as to
research sources, consultations regarding oral
advocacy technique, and
general strategy. No Team shall
receive assistance of any kind during a Competition oral argument or any
adjournment thereof.
RULE VII. PENALTIES
A. The Board may assess such penalties, including disqualification, as
it deems
reasonable and appropriate in its sole discretion for failure to
comply with the Rules
or deadlines set pursuant to these Rules and other
rules made pursuant to Rule IX
hereof.
B. All briefs in the Competition shall be subject to uniform penalties
for each type violation;
penalties may be levied in whole or fractional
points.
C. The Board shall maintain
records of the penalties imposed pursuant to this Rule for
at least six (6) months
RULE
VIII. INTERPRETATION OF THE
RULES
Requests for interpretation of these Rules should be
addressed to the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, at the
address in Rule IV(C)(1)(b), or by e-mail to cspeight@law.pace.edu.
Requests should be made at the earliest date possible.
All interpretations of these Rules and any waivers, consents,
assessments of penalties, decisions or other actions taken by the Board in
its administration of the Competition shall be in its sole and absolute
discretion. Such
interpretations, waivers, consents, assessments of penalties, decisions or
actions shall be final, and all participants shall be bound thereby.
RULE
IX. OTHER RULES
The
Board may from time to time make any other rules and procedures deemed
advisable for the
conduct of the Competition, in its sole discretion.
The certification shall
state: Date__________________
_________________________________
Team Member
________________________________
Team member
________________________________
Team Member
[4] Briefs will be scored on
the following basis: Correct Bluebook citation, spelling, punctuation,
and capitalization shall represent seventeen percent (17%) of the total brief score.
Thoroughness of research, depth of analysis, and persuasiveness
of argument shall
represent eighty-one percent (81%) of the total brief
score. Two percent (2%) of
the total
score will be for measuring brief factors.
[5] Total preliminary scores
shall be computed as follows: The brief score shall constitute
forty percent (40%) of the
total preliminary score. The
score for each of the three (3)
preliminary rounds shall constitute
twenty percent (20%) of the total preliminary score. The
score each Team member receives in each preliminary round
shall constitute fifty percent
(50%) of that preliminary round score, or
ten percent (10%) of the total preliminary score.
Any Team that draws a bye
shall have its total preliminary scored computed as follows:
The brief score shall constitute forty percent (40%) of the total
preliminary score. The
score for each preliminary round shall constitute thirty percent (30%)
of the total preliminary
score. Otherwise,
scoring shall be the same as described in Rule V(B).
Please address questions about the National Environmental Law Moot
Court Competition to Leslie Crincoli, Competition Administrator:
E-mail - lcrincoli@law.pace.edu, Phone: (914) 422-4413.
Last updated February 25, 2003
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