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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 2024-2025 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 on campus where they can be considered for all available mock trial teams. Students may be asked to return for an in-person call back tryout on campus and/or a virtual interview.

For moot court teams, students will fill out an application, submit a resume and brief, 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 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 Informational 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 to learn more:

You may view a recording of the All-Advocacy General Informational Session here:
https://luc.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10591e16-9fb5-4e6a-96bc-b13301660718

*You will need your Loyola UVID and password to access the video.

Mock Trial Tryouts

Info sessions:

You may view a recording of a Mock Trial Tryout Informational Session here: https://luc.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=488ccdbf-1fea-48e5-907c-b13a017a66b9

*You will need your Loyola UVID and password to access the video.

Tryout Sign up: Visit and add the TWEN page entitled "2024-2025 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 “2024-2025 Loyola Mock Trial Tryouts” TWEN page.

Deadline: Your application and resume are due on TWEN by Sunday, April 7th at 10:00 a.m.

Tryout Date(s) and Time(s):
The first round of tryouts will be held on Monday, April 8th between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. in-person at the law school. 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 Thursday, April 11th between 5:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. in-person at the law school and you will be assigned a five-minute time slot beforehand.

Final personal interviews for individual teams will be held in the late afternoon into the evening over Zoom on Friday, April 12th. 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, Teasha Dogra, at tdogra@luc.edu.

Further details about the Mock Trial Program can be found here: https://www.luc.edu/law/currentstudents/competitions/trial_advocacy.html

Moot Court Tryouts

Info sessions:

  • WEEKEND JD ONLY: Sunday, March 17th, 11:55 a.m. at Loyola, Room TBA
  • Monday, March 25th, 10:00 a.m. at Loyola, Room 1201
  • Friday, April 5th, 10:00 a.m. via Zoom, https://luc.zoom.us/j/85723432954

A recording of the Weekend JD Only session and at least one of the open informational sessions will be made available soon after the last informational session has taken place.

Additional Offering:
The Moot Court Board has arranged for a Moot Court Coaches Panel discussion over Zoom on Wednesday, March 27th at 5:00 p.m. Meet and hear from our current Moot Court Coaches directly about their team composition, practice schedules and competition details. All are welcome to join. https://luc.zoom.us/j/85786875154

Tryout Sign up: Visit and add the TWEN page entitled "Moot Court Tryouts 2024." 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 15th at 11:59 p.m. Your brief is due on TWEN by Friday, May 10th at 11:59 p.m.

Tryout Date(s) and Time(s):
Friday, April 19th, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Loyola
Saturday, April 20th, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Loyola
Sunday, April 21st, 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, students use the brief written for their most recent Legal Writing course (depending on whether you are a 1L or 2L) and use the oral argument that corresponds with that brief. 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. throughout the academic year. Weekend JD student team members who have already taken Legal Writing III will only need to enroll in the course for the spring semester. Students on the team will also be required to attend team practices as set forth by the team coaches.

More information about the Moot Court Program can be found here: https://www.luc.edu/law/currentstudents/competitions/nationalmootcourtcompetitionteams

 

Dispute Resolution Tryouts

Client Counseling, Mediation, and Negotiation Teams
Info sessions: TBA, fall 2024
Tryout Date(s) and Time(s): TBA, fall 2024

The Client Counseling team, the Mediation Team, and the Negotiation Teams will be holding tryouts to field their 2024-2025 teams in the fall of 2024. 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 here: https://www.luc.edu/law/currentstudents/competitions/dispute-resolution-competition-teams and here: https://www.luc.edu/law/academics/centersinstitutesandprograms/disputeresolutionprogram/eventsandcompetitions

You may view the 2023 Dispute Resolution Team General Informational Sessions here:
https://luc.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Sessions/List.aspx?folderID=acc01239-3a4e-4849-8e58-b06c0176207b
*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 sessions:

  • Monday, April 8th, 4:00 p.m. at Loyola, Room 1202

A recording of the informational session will be made available soon after the informational session has completed.

Students who would like to participate in the 2024-2025 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 2024. 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 2025 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 26th.

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.