Welcome to Pace Law School

The Fifteenth Annual National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition (NELMCC) will be held on Thursday, February 20 through Saturday, February 22, 2003 at Pace University School of Law, White Plains, New York.

The registration deadline is October 1, 2002. Each participating school is required to complete and return a registration form to Pace University School of Law, accompanied by the team registration fee of $375 by check made payable to Pace University School of Law, Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. The registration fee covers most meals, including continental breakfasts, lunches and an evening reception. Teams are responsible for their travel arrangements, hotel expenses and some meals.

Registration for the Competition is limited to one team per school. Acceptance is based strictly on a "first come, first served" basis. Registrations received after October 1 will be accepted at the discretion of the NELMCC Board.

The legal problem drafted each year involves timely issues of national importance to the practice of environmental law. Recent topics have included illegal dumping of hazardous waste, vicarious criminal liability of corporate officers for their company’s environmental crimes and commerce clause limits on water pollution regulation.

The Competition Problem and Rules will be distributed by mail and e-mail on approximately October 1, 2002 to all schools that have paid in full by that date. The problem will subsequently be posted on the Pace Law School web site.

Each team will write a brief for one of the respective parties’ legal positions. The measuring brief and seven other copies of the brief identified only by team number (see Rule IV(B)) must be mailed or otherwise shipped to the National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition at Pace University School of Law. Packages containing briefs must bear a postmark or other indicia proving date of mailing no later than December 3, 2002. The team should maintain proof of mailing, either a postal receipt or a tracking number assigned by the shipper for delivery verification.

Teams will serve their briefs on the other teams via a posting of the briefs on the Pace Law School web site. Each school must e-mail one copy of its brief (NOT the measuring brief) by December 3, 2002, 11:59 p.m. (EST) to the Competition Coordinator (see contact information below). Each team should insure that the brief it e-mails contains no identifying information, except the team number. Meeting this deadline will constitute fulfillment of the obligation to serve opposing teams. A page will be created on the Pace web site with links to all the teams' briefs, identified only by the team number. On December 10, the Competition Coordinator will send each team's contact person information on how to gain access to the briefs.

The content, legal analysis and accuracy of the briefs are graded by practicing environmental attorneys.

Scoring in the preliminary rounds is based on a combination of the brief score and scores from the oral rounds. Scoring in the quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds is based solely on oral performance. Oral arguments begin with the preliminary rounds on Thursday, February 20, 2003 and conclude with the final round on Saturday afternoon, February 22. Each argument will feature three adverse teams. Judges evaluating the oral arguments include attorneys with environmental law expertise, members of the Pace environmental law faculty and judges from the Nation’s courts. Final round judges will be members of the federal bench and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Appeals Board.

                Winning Team
                Finalist Teams (two)
                Best Oralist
                David Sive Award for Best Brief Overall
                Best Briefs (representing the two remaining parties)

The 2002 National Environment Law Moot Court perpetual trophy is currently at Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College. This traveling trophy will be sent to the winner of the 2003 Competition.

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, located within a 15-minute walk to the Law School. The hotel provides free bus shuttle service to and from the Competition. Teams must call the hotel directly to make a reservation. The hotel telephone number is 1-800-752-4672. You must reserve by January 19, 2003 and mention the Pace Environmental Moot Court to receive the special Competition rate. You will need the confirmation number that the hotel will give you when you arrive for the Competition.

The Competition maintains information from previous moots on the Pace site at http://www.law.pace.edu/environmentalm/index.html. The final round of the Competition is broadcast live on the web via streaming video/audio. Access to the broadcast is on the Competition's home page.

1. Registration deadline	October 1, 2002
2. Competition Problem and Rules to be sent to teams	October 1, 2002
3. Deadline for withdrawal	October 31, 2002
4. Briefs to be postmarked to Pace University School of Law	December 3, 2002
5. Teams to e-mail their brief (NOT the measuring brief) to Competition Coordinator by 11:59 pm (EST) for posting on the Pace web site (in fulfillment of service on opposing teams)	December 3, 2002
6. Pace to e-mail team contact the access information linking to briefs on web site	December 10, 2002
7. Hotel deadline for reservations at special rate	January 19, 2003
8. Advance Competition check-in at Crowne Plaza	February 19, 2003
9. Competition check-in at Pace University	February 20, 2003
10. Oral arguments begin (Preliminary Rounds I & II)	February 20, 2003
11. Preliminary Round III & Quarterfinal Round	February 21, 2003
12. Semifinal & Final Rounds	February 22, 2003

Please send registration forms and inquiries about the Competition to:

National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition
Leslie Crincoli, P212
Pace University School of Law
78 North Broadway, P212
White Plains, NY 10603
Phone: 914.422.4413
Fax: 914.422.4261
E-mail: lcrincoli@law.pace.edu
Web site: http://www.law.pace.edu/environmentalm/index.html