Moot Court & Trial Advocacy Programs

Members of Loyola's Byrne Trial Advocacy Team were named National Semifinalists at the 2018 National Board of Trial Advocates' Tournament of Champions, a competition they won in 2015.

Loyola leads the field in advocacy with teams named champions of more than 100 competitions and consistently ranks in the top 10 among trial and advocacy programs by U.S. News & World Report. Our teams regularly win regional, national and international awards. Loyola’s programs promote innovative curriculum and a commitment to ethical advocacy by offering a multitude of practical learning opportunities. Loyola places a strong emphasis on skills training to better equip students for a competitive job market after graduation.  

Faculty advisers and renowned alumni are on hand to offer guidance and support along the way. More than 200 Loyola alumni currently preside as trial court judges in Southern California -- more than from any other school.

READ MORE ABOUT OUR TEAMS' RECENT VICTORIES AND LEARN ABOUT LOYOLA'S LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE IN TRIAL ADVOCACY AND MOOT COURT PROGRAMS.

  • Loyola's Entertainment Moot provides students the chance to try out their entertainment litigation skills in a mock court setting.

    Cardozo/BMI competition website is here:

    https://sites.google.com/site/cardozobmimootcourtcompetition/

  • This statewide competition against other California law schools is sponsored by the State Bar of California Section on Environmental Law. Students will analyze an environmental fact pattern, analyze the law, gather facts, determine a strategy and negotiate on behalf of one of the parties.  

  • The Hispanic National Bar Association sponsors an annual moot court competition made up of approximately 30 schools from around the country. Each school may enter a team consisting of two or three members. Students chosen for Loyola's team must first write a brief. They then engage in a month-long series of practice rounds before traveling to the competition. The competition problem is prepared by the HNBA and typically involves issues of Constitutional Law, often coupled with a statutory claim.

  • In the Scott Moot Court Honors Program, upper-division students are given an appellate problem for which they must write a judged research brief and participate in a judged oral argument on behalf of both appellant and appellee.  The top four oralists compete in the final round for the award of Best Oralist. In addition, the student writing the Best Brief and the Best Advocate, the student with the highest combined brief and oral scores, are also recognized at the conclusion of the Competition.  

  • The Byrne Trial Advocacy Team is a nationally ranked competitive mock trial team where talented second-, third- and fourth-year students have the rare opportunity to receive extensive, individualized training in all aspects of trial advocacy. Students earn six units for the first year on the team and four units for subsequent years. Each year, team members are selected based on an intramural competition held at the end of the spring semester. 

  • The Greene Broillet & Wheeler National Civil Trial Competition is an invitational tournament open to all ABA-accredited law schools that have demonstrated excellence in mock trial competitions and/or demonstrated excellence in the training of law students in litigation skills. The purpose of the tournament is to provide student litigants an opportunity to develop and display the skills of a successful civil litigator. Students will be required to perform opening statements, direct- and cross-examination of expert and lay witnesses and finally closing arguments, as well as argue objections based on the Federal Rules of Evidence.

     

  • The Transactional Negotiation Team began in the 2009-2010 academic year and offers students a “moot court-like” experience in a transactional setting. Team members are given a complex business problem and, after research and analysis, develop a strategy for representing their client in the matter. They draft a term sheet or an agreement presenting their client’s proposal for completing the transaction, then review and respond to drafts prepared by the students representing the other side of the prospective deal. 

  • Loyola Law School’s Practitioner Moot Program allows attorneys with pending oral argument dates in federal or state appellate courts to have their cases thoroughly mooted by faculty experts and experienced litigators in the area. 

    Loyola has hosted moots for cases later argued in the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit, the California Supreme Court, and the California Courts of Appeal, among others, involving a wide range of issues. Feedback from practitioners who have availed themselves of the opportunity to moot their cases has been extraordinarily positive. 

    Loyola's practitioner moot builds on some of Loyola’s competitive advantages, including a history of success with the student moots above. Loyola Law School’s faculty boasts more former Ninth Circuit clerks than any other law school in the Ninth Circuit. Loyola also has an extensive array of faculty members with appellate practice experience and expertise mooting appellate advocates, including mooting members of the U.S. Solicitor General's Office for arguments in the U.S. Supreme Court. And Loyola has longstanding close relationships with consistent appellate practitioners, including the ACLU, the Office of the Federal Public Defender, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.