Official Rules of the National Professional Responsibility Moot Court Competition

Transcription

1 Official Rules of the National Professional Responsibility Moot Court Competition I. Executive Board A. "Executive Board" Defined The Executive Board is responsible for organizing and administering the National Professional Responsibility Moot Court Competition (hereinafter Competition ). The Executive Board will be appointed from members of Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law s Moot Court Society. Members of the Executive Board shall not be actively affiliated with any team registered to participate in the Competition. B. Powers of the Executive Board 1. The Executive Board has the sole discretion to enforce all Competition rules. 2. The Executive Board has the sole discretion to interpret the Competition rules. No interpretation of the Competition rules is valid unless obtained in writing from the Executive Board. 3. The Executive Board has the sole discretion to answer questions about the Record and all other papers that constitute the Problem. 4. The Executive Board has the sole power to resolve any dispute that may arise during the Competition. 5. The Executive Board has the power to change or supplement the Competition rules, should any changes or supplements become necessary. Changes and supplements will be communicated to participating teams as quickly as possible. C. Participation of Executive Board Members Unless each affected team consents, members of the Executive Board shall not judge briefs or oral arguments. D. Questions and Inquiries Any questions about the Competition shall be directed to the Executive Board in writing. If a question affects other teams, a copy of each written question and answer shall be circulated by the Executive Board to all

2 participating teams. E. Contact with the Executive Board The Executive Board may be reached as follows: By mail: By Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Attn: Professor Allison Martin Faculty Advisor, Moot Court Society 530 W. New York Street, Rm. 210A Indianapolis, Indiana II. Eligibility and Team Composition A. "Team" Defined 1. The Competition is open to all ABA-accredited law schools in the United States, excluding Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. 2. A "team" consists of two or three persons from the same school, each of whom satisfies the criteria listed in Rule II(B). 3. No person may be a member of more than one team. 4. Only two team members may present oral arguments or otherwise participate in any particular oral round of the Competition. All three team members may argue during the oral rounds, but only two may argue in a single oral round. 5. Only two team members may sit at counsel table during an oral round. 6. All team members may participate in any other aspect of the Competition, including practice rounds, brief drafting, and brief editing. 7. Each school may have up to two teams within the Competition. B. Qualifications of Team Members 1. No team member may hold a law degree from any ABA-accredited law school in the United States.

3 2. Each team member must be currently enrolled in a full-time or part-time Juris Doctorate or equivalent program in the law school they represent. 3. Team members may not hold or be enrolled in any graduate legal program, such as an LL.M. or S.J.D. program, or the equivalent. C. Replacing Team Members No team member may be replaced after the team's brief has been submitted or substantially written, except with the express written consent of the Executive Board, which will require a showing of good cause. D. Coaches and Advisors 1. Each team may have one or more coaches. 2. Any current students or faculty members at the team s school may act as a coach. E. Number of Teams The total number of teams allowed in the competition will be capped at sixteen (16). This cap may be increased by the Executive Board with faculty oversight and approval. III. Briefs A. Side Selection 1. If a school is represented by one team, the Executive Board will assign the team to represent either Petitioner or Respondent. 2. If a school is represented by two teams, the teams must collectively decide which team will represent Petitioner and which will represent Respondent. Upon consensus, both teams must notify the Executive Board of their decision. B. Outside Assistance 1. Only members of the same team may assist in drafting or editing the brief. 2. Team members may hold oral argument sessions before submitting the brief, but must use only team members as judges. Faculty, coaches, and other non-team members may not be present at these

4 pre-brief arguments. 3. Faculty members (including library faculty and staff) or a nonfaculty coach may talk with team members about the issues involved in the competition problem and may talk about general drafting principles, but shall not read, edit, or comment on team briefs prior to brief submission to the Executive Board. Once briefs are submitted to the Executive Board, faculty and coaches may read the briefs. 4. Team members must sign the affidavit in Addendum A to these rules, which certifies that team members have not sought or received outside assistance with the brief. 5. Teams found to have received outside assistance in violation of these rules, or found to have committed plagiarism, will be penalized by the Executive Board. The penalty may include disqualification from the Competition. C. Format 1. The pages contained in the brief shall be 8 ½ by 11 inches. 2. Briefs shall be produced in a neat and legible manner using black print. Text shall appear on only one side of each page. 3. All typed matter, including text, argument headings, and block quotations, shall appear in no smaller than 12-point font. The font may be either proportional or non-proportional. 4. All typed matter must be double-spaced except for argument headings and block quotations, which must be single-spaced. Block quotations should also be justified. 5. The use of footnotes is prohibited. 6. The pages of the brief shall be numbered at the bottom of each page. 7. All four margins for the text of the brief shall be at least on (1) inch from the edge of the page. Block quotations should be indented from the right and left margins. 8. All citations shall conform to the rules in the 19 th Edition of the Bluebook.

5 9. Briefs must contain no more than 11,000 words, exclusive of the cover page, the table of contents, the table of authorities, and affidavit (see Addendum A). D. Arrangement and Contents of Briefs. Briefs shall contain the following sections in the following order: 1. A cover, which shall contain, in the order indicated, from the top of the page: (a) Docket number of the case; (b) Name of the court to which the appeal is being taken; (c) Caption of the case; (d) Nature of the proceeding and the name of the court from which the appeal is taken. (e) Title of the document (e.g., Brief for the Petitioner, ); and (f) Number of the team who authored the brief; 2. Table of Contents: including page references to each part of the brief, including each argument heading; 3. Table of Authorities: authorities cited in the brief, which lists cases in alphabetical order, statutes in numerical order, and other authorities in alphabetical order by author or title, with references to the pages of the brief where these authorities are cited; 4. Question Presented for Review: the issue expressed concisely in relation to the case; 5. Statement of the Case: describing facts relevant to the questions presented for review, the course of proceedings, and the case s disposition in the court below, with appropriate citations to the record; 6. Summary of the Argument: suitably paragraphed; 7. Standard of Review; 8. Argument: each proposition that Petitioner or Respondent intends to raise on appeal shall be set forth specifically under the argument heading and followed by the argument applicable. The argument shall include the contentions of the Petitioner or Respondent with respect to the questions presented and the reasons in support of the contentions, along with citations to the authorities and parts of the

6 record relied upon, and a clear showing of how the issues and contentions in support thereof relate to the facts of the case under review; 9. Conclusion: specifying with particularity the relief the party seeks; 10. Signature: identifying the submitting team by using its team number; and 11. A completed copy of the affidavit contained in Addendum A. E. Team Identification 1. To facilitate anonymous scoring, names of the team members and the school they represent shall appear only on the affidavit that must be submitted with the brief (see Addendum A). 2. Information that would identify the names of the team members or the school they represent shall not appear in any other part of the brief. 3. The front cover of the brief shall contain the team s number, which will be assigned in advance by the Executive Board. F. Submission of Briefs 1. Each team must upload a copy of their brief to the assigned online drop box on the Competition website. The brief should be submitted in PDF or Microsoft Word format. 2. The briefs must be submitted no later than January 18, 2013, by 6:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time. 3. The Executive Board will post each brief on the Competition website by January 22, G. No Changes after Submission Once the brief has been submitted to the Executive Board, no revisions, supplements, or additions to the brief will be allowed. In addition, no written material outside the brief, other than s to the Executive Board, will be accepted. H. Scoring 1. Each brief will be scored by a panel of judges based on a 100 point

7 scale. At least three judges will evaluate each brief. 2. Scoring of the briefs will be anonymous. 3. The scores of individual judges will be averaged, and that average will be the brief score used throughout the Competition. 4. Briefs will be graded for both content and style. The factors that judges will consider include, but are not limited to, organization and persuasiveness, analysis and reasoning, writing style, citation use and form, format, and compliance with Competition rules. I. Closed Universe Problem The problem is a closed universe. Competitors may not use any cases, law review articles, or any other materials beyond the list of authorities provided. Any source cited in the authorities provided in the list in the appendix of the record may also be used. IV. Oral Argument Procedures A. Time and Place 1. All oral arguments will be held at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Indianapolis, on March 15-16, Courtroom assignments will be provided to teams upon their arrival at the Competition site. B. Outside Assistance in Preparing Oral Arguments 1. Subject to the limitations set forth in Section III(B), team members may receive outside assistance from coaches and outside practice judges (such as faculty members, students, and practitioners) when preparing their oral arguments. However, assistance should be given in recognition of the fact that this Competition is an educational experience. Therefore, no one rendering outside assistance to the teams during oral argument preparation, including team coaches, shall write team members oral arguments for them. 2. Teams from the same school may practice twice against each other but may not assist each other in any other capacity. 3. The Executive Board will penalize teams found to have received outside assistance in violation of these rules. The penalty may include disqualification from the Competition.

8 C. Time Allocation 1. Each oral round will be limited to sixty minutes; each team will have thirty minutes to argue. Petitioner s oralists will argue first, followed by Respondent s oralists. 2. The two oralists on each team may divide their time unequally; however, each oralist must reserve at least ten minutes of the argument time. There will be no penalty if an oralist reserves ten or more minutes of time but does not use the entire time. 3. Teams representing the Petitioner in a round may reserve up to five minutes of their time for rebuttal by (a) informing the bailiff before the round how much rebuttal time will be reserved and the time breakdown for each team member for initial arguments, and (b) requesting rebuttal time from the presiding judge at the start of Petitioner s argument. 4. Only one team member may argue on rebuttal; either participating team member may give rebuttal. 5. The Petitioner may, following the close of the Respondent s argument, waive previously-reserved rebuttal time. However, the Petitioner may not otherwise reallocate rebuttal time once the round begins. 6. The Respondent may not reserve time for nor deliver surrebuttal. 7. The bailiff will give each advocate a 10-minute, 5-minute, 2- minute, and 1-minute warning, as well as a warning that the advocate s time has expired. 8. Visual aids and other similar devices may not be used during oral argument. 9. Each team will be provided a Petitioner or Respondent table card that also contains the school s team number. The card should be placed on counsel table facing the judges at the beginning of the round and should remain on the table throughout the round. D. Anonymity and Contact with Judges 1. Although team members should provide their individual names to judges for purposes of conducting courtroom proceedings, the team's law school affiliation shall not be mentioned at any time

9 before, during, or after the oral argument, because some judges may preside in more than one round. 2. All team members, coaches, advisors, and observers must refrain from identifying a team s school at any time and in any manner, including, but not limited to, wearing any identifying items, such as school clothing, patches, or pins, or carrying identifying material such as a notebook or other item with a school logo. 3. Team members and individuals affiliated with a team should not speak with the judges before the judges enter the courtroom. 4. Since individuals may judge more than one round, until a team is eliminated from the Competition, team members and individuals affiliated with the team shall not speak with judges about any substantive matters or team s identifications. 5. A violation of the rules in this Section IV(D) may serve as grounds for disqualification from the Competition, or other penalties. E. Judges and Judging Criteria 1. Each round will be judged by at least three oral argument judges. 2. Judges will be provided with a copy of the bench brief and the problem. 3. Oral argument judges will not be provided with copies of the participants' briefs. 4. Oral argument judges will receive pre-argument orientation in matters such as scoring and judging on advocacy as opposed to merits. 5. Each judge will score each oralist in the round; the judge s scores for that round will be averaged to determine the team's oral argument score for that round. Although judges will score individually, they may consult with each other during the scoring process. 6. Each judge will receive a grading form outlining the factors to be considered during the judging process. The grading form will indicate the minimum and maximum number of points allowed for each grading category. 7. The categories for scoring will include reasoning and logic; ability

10 to answer questions; persuasiveness; knowledge and use of the facts; knowledge and use of the controlling law; and courtroom demeanor and professionalism. 8. Each judge may provide a short oral critique at the end of each round. The critique will focus on performance issues, not personal characteristics or substance. 9. The winner of each round will be announced. Teams advancing to the Elimination Rounds will be announced at the end of the Preliminary Rounds. F. Conflicts of Interest 1. Judges may not serve in a round in which they know a team member, a coach, or can identify the school of the team members. 2. A judge s mere recognition of a team member or a coach is not sufficient grounds for the judge to be eliminated from the panel. Instead, the judge must be able to recognize a team member or coach and to connect that team member or coach with a particular school which causes the judge to doubt his or her ability to impartially evaluate the team member s performance. 3. Conflicts of interest, as described above in IV(F)(2), must be disclosed to a member of the Executive Board as soon as possible. 4. Conflicts of interest may be reported by a team member, coach, or judge. 5. If a conflict of interest exists, the judge shall be removed from the panel. If recusal occurs, a substitute judge will be added to the panel. 6. If a team is aware of a conflict of interest that is adverse to that team and does not report it before the beginning of the round, the conflict is deemed waived. 7. If a team is aware of a conflict of interest that might benefit that team, does not report the conflict before the beginning of the round, and the conflict is later discovered by the opposing team or the Executive Board, the Executive Board may penalize the nonreporting team. The penalty may include disqualification from the Competition. G. No Scouting Rule

11 1. No member or coach of any team still eligible to participate or actually participating in the Competition may attend any practice or argument of another team or receive information from any person who has attended such practice or argument. V. Scoring and Awards 2. While a team is still active in the Competition, no team member, coach, or other affiliated person may "scout" other active teams. Scout is defined as gathering information about opponents in the Competition. 3. If a school sends two teams, and one team is eliminated but the other is still active, the eliminated team may attend arguments of the active team. 4. A violation of this rule may serve as grounds for disqualification from the Competition. A. Breakdown 1. During the Preliminary Rounds, each team s total score will be determined by combining the team s brief score and oral argument score. The brief score will represent thirty-five percent (35%) of the team s total score. The oral argument score will represent sixty-five percent (65%) of the team s total score. 2. During the Elimination Rounds, each advancing team will be scored solely on their oral argument performance. B. Reporting Results 1. Within two weeks after the Competition, each team will receive: (a) (b) (c) a copy of the overall rankings of all teams in the Competition, with the total accumulated win-loss records and positive or negative point differentials; a copy of brief rankings, including every team s total brief score and total penalties; and a copy of oralist rankings from the Preliminary and Elimination Rounds, including all total individual scores. 2. In addition, within two weeks after the Competition, teams will receive a copy of individual judge s score sheets from rounds in which the team competed.

12 C. Awards 1. The following awards will be announced at the conclusion of the Competition: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) Competition champion; Runner-up; Semifinalists; Best Petitioner brief; Best Respondent brief; Best individual oralist in the Preliminary Rounds; and Best individual oralist in the Final Round. 2. To be eligible for the best individual oralist award in the Preliminary Rounds, a team member must argue at least twice. VI. Sequence of Rounds and Advancement A. Preliminary Rounds 1. Preliminary Rounds will begin on March 15, Each team will argue in the Preliminary Rounds. 3. During the Preliminary Rounds, each team will argue one round on-brief and one round off-brief. 4. During each Preliminary Round, teams will be seeded according to brief scores. In case of an odd number of teams, the team with the highest brief score will receive a bye. 5. Each team's score will be compared to its opponent's score in that round, and the differential determined. However, the results will not be released until after the Competition in accordance with Rule V(B)(1). 6. If at least sixteen teams are registered in the Competition, the eight teams with the best average score from the Preliminary rounds will advance to the Quarterfinal Round. If fewer than sixteen teams are

13 registered in the Competition, the Executive Board may elect to skip the Quarterfinal Round and proceed to the Semifinal Round, to which the four teams with the best average score from the four Preliminary rounds will advance. 7. Should two teams have identical average scores at the conclusion of the Preliminary Rounds, the brief score will be the final determining factor in how the advancing teams are determined and ranked. 8. In the Preliminary Rounds, teams from the same school will not meet each other. However, in the Elimination Rounds, the Executive Board will not change pairings simply because teams from the same school are scheduled to argue against one another. B. Elimination Rounds 1. After the Preliminary Rounds, all rounds will be single-elimination rounds in which the winning team will advance to the next round. 2. The Petitioner/Respondent determination for each Elimination Round will be made by coin toss. The highest ranking team for each pairing will call the coin toss. 3. During the Elimination Rounds, teams will be reseeded based on oral argument scores. 4. If at least sixteen teams are registered in the Competition, the first Elimination Round will be the Quarterfinal Round, in which the top eight teams will meet. 5. The four winning teams from the Quarterfinal Round (or the four top-ranked teams from the Preliminary Rounds should the Quarterfinal Round not be held) will advance to the Semifinal Round. 6. The two winning teams from the Semifinal Round will meet in the Final Round. 7. The winner of the Final Round will be the Competition Champion. VII. Requests for Information, Challenges, and Dispute Resolution A. Requests for Information

14 1. Any team may submit a request for interpretation of the rules or clarification of the problem to the Executive Board. 2. If the Executive Board determines that an interpretation or clarification should be answered and affects other teams, the Executive Board shall promptly distribute the question, without identifying the requesting team, and the answer to all teams via the Competition website. 3. Requests for clarification of the problem must be submitted no later than December 31, B. Brief and Pre-Oral Argument Challenges 1. Any protest or challenge concerning another team s brief or any other pre-oral argument matter must be submitted in writing to the Executive Board no later than March 1, Should the alleged offensive conduct occur within two weeks of the first oral argument, the complaint shall be submitted within twenty-four hours of its discovery. 3. The protest or challenge shall be directed to the Executive Board and shall specify in as much detail as possible the nature of the complaint or challenge. No other person maybe copied on the protest or challenge. 4. After reviewing the protest or challenge, the Executive Board will, if necessary, contact other affected teams and issue a ruling. 5. The ruling of the Executive Board shall be final and may not be appealed. C. Oral Arguments and Other Competition Challenges 1. Protests or challenges concerning any oral argument or conduct during the Competition must be reported to the Executive Board within fifteen minutes of the conclusion of the round in which the allegedly offensive conduct occurs. 2. Conclusion of the round, for purposes of this rule, will be the end of the Petitioner's rebuttal period.

15 3. Protests or challenges that occur during the Competition that do not relate to a particular oral argument shall be reported to the Executive Board as soon as possible, but in no event later than fifteen minutes before the nextscheduled oral argument round. 4. The Executive Board has the ability to raise any rule violation on its own motion. D. Penalties Penalties may range from warnings, to point deductions (including fractional points), to disqualification, depending on the nature and severity of the offense. Multiple offenses by a single team will warrant more severe penalties. E. Waiver Failure to comply with the procedures in this section shall constitute a waiver of the protest or challenge. VIII. Miscellaneous Provisions A. Bench Brief 1. The Executive Board will prepare a bench brief. The contents of the bench brief are strictly confidential and may be viewed only by members of the Executive Board and by judges in the Competition. 2. Teams may be disqualified from the Competition if they intentionally gain access to the bench brief or the contents of the bench brief. If a team finds a bench brief, the team members or coach shall return it immediately to an Executive Board member or to a bailiff, without reading, copying, or otherwise using it. Teams shall not be disqualified if, during a critique, a judge inadvertently discloses portions of the bench brief. B. Use of Problem 1. The problem for this Competition may not be used by any participating school, for any reason, including intraschool competitions, without the express written consent of the Executive Board.

16 2. The Executive Board will not grant any team permission to use the current year's problem to select that school s Competition team. C. Professionalism D. Costs All teams shall conduct themselves in an ethical, civil, and professional manner. The conduct of all participants in the Competition, including team members, coaches, judges, and bailiffs will be governed by the standards set forth in the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Any ethical violation shall be reported to the Executive Board as expeditiously as possible. All costs associated with the Competition shall be borne by the schools of individual team members or by individual team members. The host will not reimburse participants for costs associated with the Competition.

17 ADDENDUM A AFFIDAVIT We have read the Rules of the National Professional Responsibility Moot Court Competition. We certify that our brief was prepared according to the Competition Rules, that our brief has a total word count of (not to exceed 11,000), and that we have not received any unauthorized assistance. Please print each team member s name under the signature, as you would like the name to appear on participation certificates. School: Team Number: Team Member #1: Printed Signature Team Member #2: Printed Signature Team Member #3: Printed Signature Coaches: Date: