Competition Team Tryouts and Registration
ADVOCACY COMPETITION TEAM TRYOUT AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION
The Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy is committed to upholding Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s mission throughout all of its programming, including within and among our advocacy competition teams. We welcome students from all backgrounds and perspectives. We value diversity in team composition. We continually strive to maintain a culture and climate free of racism and bias in every aspect of our tryout processes, team instruction, advocate training and competitions.
This spring, Loyola will begin to hold tryouts for our 2025-2026 advocacy competition teams. Students may tryout/apply for as many teams as they are interested in, but may only accept a position on one team per academic year.
For mock trial teams, students will submit a resume and fill out an application where they can specify an interest in any mock trial team(s). Students then attend one in-person tryout at the Daley Center where they can be considered for all available mock trial teams. Students may be asked to return for an in-person call back tryout at the Daley Center and/or an interview held on campus or virtually.
For moot court teams, students will fill out an application, submit a resume and brief/writing sample, and list any moot court team(s) of their preference. Students attend one in-person tryout on campus where they can be considered for all available moot court teams. Weekend JD students will have the option to attend their tryout over Zoom. Weekend JD students who wish to be considered exclusively for the Weekend JD competition team should include that information on their application.
For dispute resolution teams, there will be separate tryouts for the client counseling team, the mediation team, the negotiation teams, and the Vis Moot arbitration team.
Details on tryouts for each group are below and this announcement will be updated as information changes or further information becomes available.
Remember, students are only authorized to compete on teams that are formally recognized and run by Loyola. Students may not attempt to enter competitions on their own if they are not selected for one of Loyola’s teams.
Students are only permitted to accept an offer to compete on one advocacy team per academic year. Accordingly, a student cannot be a member of a moot court and mock trial team or dispute resolution team during the same semester or academic year.
All competition teams are associated with a credited course, however, you will not be able to register for the applicable course until you accept an offer to compete on a team. In general, all competition teams hold practices in the evenings and on weekends with coaches who are practicing attorneys. Accordingly, team practice dates and times vary per team and per semester.
For more information about any of the competition teams, advocacy courses or the advocacy certificate, contact Adrienne Mebane (amebane@luc.edu) or Gina Gerardi (ggerardi@luc.edu) in the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy.
General Information Session
If you are interested in a general overview of our advocacy competition team programming in terms what teams we have, how they are different, etc…, please consider attending our All-Advocacy General Informational Session with Demonstrations performed by current advocacy team members to learn more:
- View a recording of the All-Advocacy General Informational Session & Showcase (with Demonstrations performed by current advocacy team members)
*You will need your Loyola UVID and password to access the video.
Mock Trial Tryouts
Info sessions:
Links to the 2025 Mock Trial Tryout Informational Sessions can be found on the “2025-2026 Loyola Mock Trial Tryouts” TWEN page under the Course Materials section.
Tryout Sign up: Visit and add the TWEN page entitled "2025-2026 Loyola Mock Trial Tryouts." This page will contain detailed instructions for trying out. The virtual portion of tryouts (interviews) will take place using Zoom video-conferencing.
Application: The application and tryout problem will be available on the “2025-2026 Loyola Mock Trial Tryouts” TWEN page.
Deadline: Your application and resume are due on TWEN by Sunday, April 6th at 10:00 a.m.
Tryout Date(s) and Time(s):
The first round of tryouts will be held on Monday, April 7 between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. in-person at the Daley Center (50 West Washington Street). You will sign-up for a 5 minute tryout time slot on TWEN. The tryout will consist of you cross-examining a witness, based on the tryout problem. You will also be asked to perform a closing argument.
Call-backs will be held on Wednesday, April 9 between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. in-person at the Daley Center and you will be assigned a five-minute time slot beforehand.
Final personal interviews for individual teams will be either on campus or over Zoom on Friday, April 11. Again, you will be assigned a time slot beforehand. Interviews can last between 15 and 30 minutes.
Other information: Loyola has four mock trial teams. Coaches from all four teams participate in the try-out process. Room assignments/Zoom links will be confirmed/provided to participating students via email through TWEN the day of tryouts/callbacks/interviews.
For more information about Mock Trial, you may email the current Executive Director of the Mock Trial Board, Johnny Novi, at jnovi@luc.edu.
Further details about the Mock Trial Program can be found here.
Moot Court Tryouts
Info sessions:
Links to the 2025 Moot Court Tryout Informational Sessions and the Coaches Panel can be found on the “Moot Court Tryouts 2025” TWEN page under the Course Materials section.
Tryout Sign up: Visit and add the TWEN page entitled "Moot Court Tryouts 2025." This page will contain detailed instructions for trying out. Sign-up for a time slot under the “Sign-Up Sheets” tab.
Application: The application will be available through the TWEN page. Detailed instructions on when and how to submit your application, resume, and brief are provided therein.
Deadlines: Your application and resume are due on TWEN by Monday, April 21 at 11:59 p.m. Your brief is due on TWEN by Monday, May 19 at 11:59 p.m.
Tryout Date(s) and Time(s):
Friday, April 25, from 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. at Loyola
Saturday, April 26, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Loyola
Sunday, April 27, from 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at Loyola
You can sign-up for a tryout date and one 15 minute time slot on TWEN.
Other information: To tryout, 1L students use the brief written from their Legal Writing II course and use the oral argument that corresponds with that brief. 2Ls and eligible Weekend JD 3L students can select a legal based writing sample of their choosing and will craft an oral argument from a given (abbreviated) record. A short list of suggested caselaw to review and use will also be provided, if helpful for the oral argument.
Students attend one tryout where they will present their oral argument before the Moot Court Executive Board who will be acting as judges. A short interview will take place with the Board after the oral argument. Room Assignments will be confirmed/provided to participating students via email through TWEN the week of tryouts. If you have any questions or need to request alternative accommodations for a tryout for a valid reason, please email MootCourt@luc.edu.
In addition to attending team practices, all students competing on a Moot Court team, with the exception of the Weekend JD competition team, will be required to take the Appellate Advocacy Honors course throughout the academic year. The course is scheduled for Wednesdays from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
Students selected for the Weekend JD competition team will be required to take the Appellate Advocacy Honors course that meets during on-campus weekend classes on Sundays from 2:15 p.m.-4:45 p.m. in the spring semester. Students on the team will also be required to attend team practices as set forth by the team coaches.
Additionally and new for the 2025-2026 season, any students new to the Moot Court program who have not already taken a Legal Writing III or similar Appellate Advocacy writing course, must enroll in a section of the Appellate Advocacy Honors Program Brief Writing course for the fall semester. This is a two-credit graded Rigorous Writing course that will focus exclusively on appellate brief writing. Further information about registering for the course and section offerings will be made available to those who receive and accept offers into the Moot Court program over the summer. The Weekend JD section of the writing course will meet during on-campus weekend classes on Sundays from 2:15 p.m.-4:45 p.m. in the fall semester.
More information about the Moot Court Program can be found here.
Dispute Resolution Tryouts
Client Counseling, Mediation, and Negotiation Teams
Info sessions: TBA, fall 2025
Tryout Date(s) and Time(s): TBA, fall 2025
The Client Counseling team, the Mediation Team, and the Negotiation Teams will be holding tryouts to field their 2025-2026 teams in the fall of 2025. Informational sessions will be held early in the fall semester, before tryouts for these teams begin.
More information about Dispute Resolution Teams can be found on the Loyola Dispute Resolution Competition Teams page* and and the Events and Competitions page.
*If you have specific interest and/or questions about the Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition team, please contact Professor Paul Kapfer at pkapfer@luc.edu.
View the 2024 Dispute Resolution Team General Informational Sessions here.
*You will need your Loyola UVID and password to access the videos.
If you have any questions or need more information, please contact the Director of our Dispute Resolution Program, Professor Teresa Frisbie at tfrisbie@luc.edu.
International Commercial Arbitration and the CISG (Vis Moot Class) – Permission of Professor Required
Info session(s):
You may view a 2025 Vis Moot Team Program Informational Session here.
*You will need your Loyola UVID and password to access the video.
Students who would like to participate in the 2025-2026 Vis Moot Program, with oral argument in the spring semester traditionally held in Vienna or Hong Kong, must take International Commercial Arbitration and the CISG in the fall of 2025. Sixteen students will be admitted to the course. At the end of the semester, eight will be chosen to be Vis Moot Fellows. Four Vis Moot Fellows will be on the Vienna team and four will be on the Hong Kong team. Teams will travel in the spring 2026 for competition.
Deadline: To be considered for the class, you need to email a statement of interest and a resume to Professor Margaret Moses at mmoses1@luc.edu by Friday, April 25.
Because the final decision as to admission will not be made until sometime in May, you need to register for a full course load, but be prepared to drop a course if you are selected for admission into the arbitration class.
You cannot take this class if you are A CORBOY FELLOW OR IF YOU ARE on a mock trial team or on a moot court team that competes in EITHER the fall semester OR THE SPRING SEMESTER.
ADVOCACY COMPETITION TEAM TRYOUT AND REGISTRATION INFORMATION
The Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy is committed to upholding Loyola University Chicago School of Law’s mission throughout all of its programming, including within and among our advocacy competition teams. We welcome students from all backgrounds and perspectives. We value diversity in team composition. We continually strive to maintain a culture and climate free of racism and bias in every aspect of our tryout processes, team instruction, advocate training and competitions.
This spring, Loyola will begin to hold tryouts for our 2025-2026 advocacy competition teams. Students may tryout/apply for as many teams as they are interested in, but may only accept a position on one team per academic year.
For mock trial teams, students will submit a resume and fill out an application where they can specify an interest in any mock trial team(s). Students then attend one in-person tryout at the Daley Center where they can be considered for all available mock trial teams. Students may be asked to return for an in-person call back tryout at the Daley Center and/or an interview held on campus or virtually.
For moot court teams, students will fill out an application, submit a resume and brief/writing sample, and list any moot court team(s) of their preference. Students attend one in-person tryout on campus where they can be considered for all available moot court teams. Weekend JD students will have the option to attend their tryout over Zoom. Weekend JD students who wish to be considered exclusively for the Weekend JD competition team should include that information on their application.
For dispute resolution teams, there will be separate tryouts for the client counseling team, the mediation team, the negotiation teams, and the Vis Moot arbitration team.
Details on tryouts for each group are below and this announcement will be updated as information changes or further information becomes available.
Remember, students are only authorized to compete on teams that are formally recognized and run by Loyola. Students may not attempt to enter competitions on their own if they are not selected for one of Loyola’s teams.
Students are only permitted to accept an offer to compete on one advocacy team per academic year. Accordingly, a student cannot be a member of a moot court and mock trial team or dispute resolution team during the same semester or academic year.
All competition teams are associated with a credited course, however, you will not be able to register for the applicable course until you accept an offer to compete on a team. In general, all competition teams hold practices in the evenings and on weekends with coaches who are practicing attorneys. Accordingly, team practice dates and times vary per team and per semester.
For more information about any of the competition teams, advocacy courses or the advocacy certificate, contact Adrienne Mebane (amebane@luc.edu) or Gina Gerardi (ggerardi@luc.edu) in the Dan K. Webb Center for Advocacy.