Posted by Posted by younglawyerssection
Post Authored By: Elaina Stevens
This year’s annual CBA Moot Court Competition took place from November 16 to November 18. This was the 41st year the event was hosted by the CBA. The first day of the competition took place at the CBA building, with the remainder at the Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse.
There were 30 teams from 12 states across the country signed up to participate. Each team consisted of 2 to 3 law students. The teams were assigned a legal problem selected by the Chicago Bar Association Young Lawyers Section Moot Court Committee. The teams were to draft briefs up to 25 pages on the assigned problem, which were then submitted for scoring by volunteer graders. Prior to the competition, the teams received a score on their brief. As for oral arguments, all teams participated in the preliminary rounds and 2 members from each team were allowed to participate in any round. Following the preliminary rounds, the 16 teams with the highest scores moved to the octo-final round. Then 8 of those teams advanced to the quarter-final round, 4 teams advanced to the semi-final round, and then the final round.
During arguments, each team was allotted 30 minutes. Teams representing the petitioner could also reserve up to 5 minutes of their argument time for rebuttal. Afterwards, judges gave critiques on the team’s argument. In each round, the judges assigned scores to each oralist and each team. Judges of the competition were attorneys who volunteered to help and were eligible for IL MCLE credit.
First and second place awards were given to the best oralist and best brief, in addition to team awards overall. University of Houston Law Center took first place for best brief, followed by University of Illinois at Chicago School of Law taking second place. Overall, the two final teams were University of Houston Law Center and St. Mary’s University School Law, taking first and second place respectively. The final round was judged by the Honorable Martin Paul Moltz and Justice Margaret Stanton McBride.
We are grateful for the attorneys and judges who came out to help judge this year’s event, and for all of the law students who participated, and hope to see everyone again next year.
About the Author
Elaina Stevens is an associate attorney at David A. Axelrod & Associates. She graduated from
DePaul University College of Law in December 2022 where she was a part-time evening
student. She has worked full-time at David A. Axelrod & Associates since post-undergrad, when
she started at the firm as a receptionist, to becoming an associate attorney in May 2023. Elaina
focuses on personal injury and medical malpractice cases and is a member of CBA’s YLS Women
in Law and Torts Litigation committees.