Western New England University School of Law offers numerous opportunities for students to hone their professional lawyering skills through legal competitions. Through various inter-law school and intramural moot court teams students have ample opportunity to add valuable experiences to their law school education.
Students try out for moot court teams in order to perfect their research, writing, and oral advocacy skills and gain confidence and experience presenting a case in court. This valuable educational experience offers excellent preparation for stepping into a career. Team members fine-tune research, writing, and oral advocacy skills; learn to work as a team; and perform under pressure.
“Negotiation team was one of the most enjoyable and meaningful experiences I had in law school. As both a competitor and student coach on the team, I developed valuable practical lawyering skills that I will carry with me into real-world practice. I really enjoyed the collaborative and collegial atmosphere created by the coaches and competitors at practice. Above all, we were a team, and each of us was dedicated to ensuring the success of our teammates.”
– Sandra San Emeterio
The Western New England University School of Law Trial Team holds tryouts early in the fall semester. Four students are chosen for one competing team that enters the American Association for Justice (AAJ) Student Trial Advocacy Competition. There is no writing component to the competition. Tryouts and the competition consist of mock jury trials, including opening statements, direct and cross examinations of witnesses, and closing arguments. More information about the Student Advocacy Trial Competition can be found on the American Association for Justice website.
Coach: To Be Determined
To Qualify: Must be a full-time 2L or part-time 3L.
Commitment: Two years – the first year you will assist the team in preparing for the competition; the second year you will select the new members and compete in the competition.
Course Credit: First year you will receive 2 credits in the spring semester which satisfies 2 experiential learning credits. Second year, as a competing member, you will receive 1 credit in the fall semester and 2 credits in the spring semester which satisfies 3 experiential learning credits.
Grading: Pass/Fail
The law school sponsors a number of appellate moot court teams each year. These teams have included:
Each of these competitions requires writing an appellate brief and then traveling to the competition and engaging in a series of competitive oral arguments. Our teams have performed extremely well in these competitions, winning awards for best oral advocate and best brief as well as national championships.
Questions about the individual moot court teams may be addressed to one of the appellate team faculty advisors:
First Amendment: Professor Lantagne
National Moot Court: Professor Scoles
Rendigs Products Liability: Professor Steiner
National Environmental Moot Court: Professor Steiner
National Veterans Law Moot Court: Professor Statchen
Selected students participate in the ABA Negotiation Competition which simulates legal negotiations in which law students, acting as lawyers, negotiate a series of legal and factual problems against another team of students. The simulations consist of a common set of facts known by all participants and confidential information known only to the participants representing a particular side. All of the simulations deal with the same general area of the law, but the negotiation situation varies with each round and level of the competition.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Reich-Graefe, Room 201, at rene.reich-graefe@law.wne.edu or 413-782-1451.
An alternative to traditional moot court competitions, the Law Student ABA Tax Challenge asks two-person teams of students to solve a cutting-edge and complex business problem that might arise in everyday tax practice. Students interested in enrolling in the ABA Tax Challenge are required to enroll concurrently in the Federal Income Tax Simulation course.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Fred Royal at froyal@law.wne.edu or 413-782-1422.
First organized in 2009, the National Veterans Law Moot Court Competition (NVLMCC) is sponsored annually by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar Association, and the George Washington University Law School (GW Law). The NVLMCC is the nation’s premier moot court focusing on veterans law. Hosted close to Veterans Day each fall in Washington, DC, the NVLMCC brings together teams of two students from around the country to argue cutting-edge veterans law issues before panels of distinguished practitioners and judges. The NVLMCC prides itself on the authenticity of the problems and the quality of its judges. The record on appeal and the documents included look like what would be found in a real veterans law case. The judges for the briefs and the oral arguments are drawn from the ranks of experienced veterans law practitioners. In particular, the final round of each NVLMCC is typically presided over by a panel of judges from the CAVC in their courtroom.
For more information, please contact:
Professor Bob Statchen at robert.statchen@law.wne.edu.
Joy Vincenzo and Brendan Morrison participated in the 2023 ABA Tax Challenge Competition held in San Francisco. Joy and Brendan won the Best Written Submission prize. Their written solution was judged as the best out of the 64 teams entered in this national competition. Professor Fred Royal was their coach.
The Tax Challenge is an alternative to traditional moot court competitions and is organized by the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. The Tax Challenge asks two-person teams to solve a complex business problem that might arise in everyday tax practice. The competition has two components. First, teams are evaluated on their written work. Each team must submit a memorandum to a senior partner and a letter to a client explaining their solution to the problem. Secondly, based on the written work product, six teams are chosen to orally defend their solution before a panel of judges consisting of some of the country’s top tax practitioners and government officials, including tax court judges.
The Western New England University School of Law 2023 National Environmental Moot Court Team advanced to the Quarterfinals and Joy Vinceno was named Best Advocate for one of the rounds.
This year's competition required the team to draft an appellate brief on four complex issues revolving around hazardous waste clean-up, federal agency authority and state jurisdiction.
The team consisted of Katie Bertrand, Andrew Loin and Joy Vincenzo with Professor Julie Steiner as coach.
An all-veteran team of students represented the WNE University School of Law for the first time at the Fall 2022 National Veterans Law Moot Court Competition hosted by GWU Law and the relatively recently created (1988) Court of Appeal for Veterans Claims. The team represented the school well, learned about ways they can continue to help their fellow veterans, and had some fun. The team included Jaymie White, Milagros Fonseca, Catherine Richardson, Alisha Henderson, Tom Ford, Patrick Gaynor and coach Prof/Col Bob Statchen.
The Western New England University School of Law National Moot Court Team placed as finalists in the 2022 regional competition. The team included Sean Buxton and Sara Sam-Njogu and they were coached by Professors Myra Orlen and Harris Freeman.
The team will be participating in the national competition at the end of January 2022 which will include over 30 teams from across the United States.
First Place for Best Written Submission, ABA Law Student Tax Challenge, 2023
Quarterfinalists, National Environmental Moot Court Team, 2023
Regional Finalist, National Moot Court Team, 2022
Regional Finalist, National Moot Court Team, 2021
Second Place, ABA Law Student Tax Challenge, 2019
Finalist, National ABA Negotiation Competition, 2017-2018
Regional Finalist, Transactional Lawyering Meet, 2017-2018
Semifinalists, National ABA Negotiation Competition, 2016-2017
Finalist, Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2016-2017
Semifinalists, National ABA Negotiation Competition, 2015-2016
Regional Semifinalist, Transactional Lawyering Meet, 2015-2016
Regional Semifinalist, Transactional Lawyering Meet, 2014-2015
Finalist, Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2014-2015
Quarterfinalists, Jeffrey G. Miller Pace National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition, 20147-2015
Regional Semifinalist, Transactional Lawyering Meet, 2013-2014
Regional Champion, Transactional Lawyering Meet, 2012-2013
Finalist, Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2012-2013
Quarterfinalists, Northeast Region, National Moot Court Competition, 2012-2013
Second Place, ABA Law Student Tax Challenge, 2011-2012
National Champion, Transactional Lawyering Meet, 2010-2011
Quarterfinalists, First Amendment Moot Court Competition, 2010- 2011
Best Brief (Petitioner), Rendigs National Products Liability Moot Court Competition, 2010-2011
Best Oralist, Rendigs National Products Liability Moot Court Competition, 2010-2011
First Place, ABA Law Student Tax Challenge, 2008-2009
Quarterfinalists, First Amendment Moot Court Competition, 2008-2009
Best Written Submission, ABA Law Student Tax Challenge, 2008-2009
First Place, Rendigs National Products Liability Moot Court Competition, 2008-2009
Finalist (Team 1), Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2008-2009
Finalist (Team 2), Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2008-2009
Finalist, Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2007-2008
Semifinalist, National ABA Negotiation Competition, 2007-2008
First Place, ABA Law Student Tax Challenge, 2006-2007
Best Brief, Frederick Douglass National Moot Court, 2006-2007
Finalist, Regional ABA Negotiation Competition, 2006-2007
