UC Davis Moot Court

Appellate Advocacy Class

Each fall semester, a majority of the law school’s second year students participate in Appellate Advocacy (commonly called Moot Court) as an elective, attending lectures on appellate skills and participating in a series of practice oral arguments. The course in the fall culminates in the law school’s annual Intraschool Moot Court Competition, in which the students participate in appellate arguments which are judged and critiqued by dozens of local attorneys and judges who volunteer their time. Students who continue Appellate Advocacy in the spring semester focus their attention on appellate brief writing. The top students each year are selected to participate in the law school's annual Neumiller Competition, the final round of the law school’s Moot Court Competition, which takes place each year during the UC Davis Picnic Day celebration. The Moot Court program, including the Appellate Advocacy Class, has recently come under the direction of Todd Noonan and Kurt Kappes. It was previously directed by Tim Schooley, the supervising attorney at the Court of Appeals for the Third District in Sacramento.

Asylum & Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition

The UC Davis Asylum & Refugee Law National Moot Court Competition is the only immigration law moot court competition on the west coast, and the only one in the nation devoted exclusively to the topic of asylum and refugee law. The competition provides law students from across the country the opportunity to participate in a hypothetical appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Competitors will write a brief as either respondent or petitioner on an issue related to asylum and refugee law. Shortly after submitting their briefs, students will participate in oral debates arguing for both sides of the issue. Students’ briefs and oral arguments will be judged by prominent judges, attorneys and scholars that specialize in the areas of immigration law and/or appellate advocacy.

Irving L. Neumiller Memorial Moot Court Competition

The Neumiller Competition is the culmination of UC Davis's year-long Intraschool Moot Court Competition. Top students from the appellate advocacy course are selected to compete in front of a panel of distinguished judges. This year the competition has moved from its traditional Picnic Day date and will be held at 4:30 pm on Saturday, April 9, 2011. It will now be the final event of King Hall's open house. We are also excited that this is the first Neumiller Competition in the Kalmanovitz Appellate Courtroom. This year our guest judges will be: Chief Justice Walter Carpeneti - Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court Judge Michael Daly Hawkins - Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Morrison England, Jr. - United States District Court for the Eastern District of California

Competition Achievements

Each year, many moot court students and board members travel all around the country to compete in numerous interschool competitions. Prior years' achievements are archived here.

2010–2011 Moot Court Board

• Scott Grzenczyk, Chair
• Kyle Morishita, Vice-Chair
• Camille Papini-Chapla, Problem Writing Co-Chair
• Daniel Watts, Problem Writing Co-Chair
• Karli Bobus, Competitions Chair
• John Puccinelli, Scheduling Chair
• Anurita Varma, Judge Recruitment Co-Chair
• Jacqueline Sutton, Judge Recruitment Co-Chair
• Remy Goldsmith, Neumiller Co-Chair
• Erika Morris, Neumiller Co-Chair
• Mishary Al-Salem, Publicity Chair
• Peter McGuinness, Asylum Competition Chair
• Richard Nguyen, Asylum Competition Recruitment/Outreach Chair
• James Tiehm, Asylum Problem-Writing Chair
• Barbara Borkowski
• Shea Brack
• Lauren Carden
• Mark Ellinghouse
• Mikalai Hroshau
• Alexei Kuchinsky
• Shaudee Navid
• Jamie Okh
• William Sheslow

You can find (or add!) information on prior board members here.