By Dipti Ramnarain ’10
Features Editor

When the average person thinks of lawyers practicing, often images of court room drama from John Grisham novels are some of the first scenes to come to mind. The sad truth (or happy, depending on your vantage point) is that many lawyers will rarely, if ever, spend significant time within the court. And perhaps this is what many students want.

But for those of us who came straight from undergrad or who worked in jobs which did not require public speaking, the Law School provides students many chances to practice and hone their oral advocacy skills. Some of these opportunities are built into the curriculum, such as the mandated oral arguments in the first year Legal Research and Writing class.

Others are student-led initiatives. The competitions are simulated appeals which include writing briefs and presenting oral arguments to a mock appellate court. While the competition is simulated, the atmosphere is as close to reality as possible.

For example, the Henry G. Manne Law & Economics Moot Court Competition, held February 16, was staged at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The first round was judged by Comissioners of the Federal Trade Commision, George Mason University professors, and practicing anti-trust attorneys. The final round was heard by The Honorable Loren Smith (Court of Federal Claims), The Honorable Edward Damich (Court of Federal Claims), and The Honorable Stephen Glickman (D.C. Court of Appeals).

The D.C. Circuit judges could not participate in this round of the competition because the topic of the case was based on an appeal before the court at the time. UVA Law students Landon Allred, Chris Bornhorst, and Josh Gayfield argued that “Verdant Fields” (Whole Foods in the case actually before the D.C. Circuit) should not be enjoined from merging with “Nature’s Bounty” (Wild Oats) because ‘premium natural and organic supermarkets’ do not qualify as a market for antitrust litigation, and the merger did not constitute a Clayton Act violation when analyzed with the market being defined as all “supermarkets.” Allred was named Best Oralist after the first two rounds, and the UVA team placed second overall.

But those are not the only wins for the UVA Extramural Moot Court program. This year UVA Law has many impressive teams, resulting in an outstanding year that is not over yet. At the Mardi Gras Invitational Sports Law Competition, hosted by Tulane University Law School, third-year Jon Lucier won the Best Oralist Award. At the William B. Spong, Jr. Invitational Moot Court Tournament, hosted by the William and Mary Schoool of Law, Jonathan Wolfson won Best Oralist, while Dean Razavi finished second in the same category.

Wolfson and Razavi, both first-years, developed their briefs over the winter break and received coaching from the JAG school. Wolfson participated in competitive speech and debate in high school and college and knew he wanted to compete on the Moot Court team when he got to law school. According to Wolfson, comfort with public speaking helped the team, and the competition helped him with being “able to further develop [an] understanding of cases and the underlying debates inside a policy issue.”

At the Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Moot Court Competition, UVA Law placed second with a team of Kendra Paul and Emily Alexander. Paul, a third-year, advanced to the second round of the Lile Moot Court competition last year, but this was her first year participating in the extramural moot court competition. Her suggestion to future competitors? “Not relying on outlines in a competition is very important [in order to better communicate with judges],” advised Paul.

Her partner Alexander credits the team's success to the help received from several professors who “mooted” them and the JAG school coach, Dan Sennott. Her advice? “Just approach the competition as a fun chance to learn something – it helps take the pressure off.”

Finally, this past weekend witnessed the semifinals of the Lile Moot Court competition. Participants included Mike Hollander and Becky Mroz, who defeated Meghan Casey and Chris Cahill, and Lucien Smith and Adam Gordon, who defeated Tim St. George and Gregory Ullom. The finals will be Saturday, March 29.

With an incredibly successful year underway, it seems like there are quite a few students at UVA Law willing to put the time and effort in to gain simulated appellate experience. Apparently, the chance to argue in front of a panel is not just a vision of the legal system realized, but also an opportunity to refine public speaking skills and come as close to practicing law as the ABA allows.