Legal students from 10 universities will gather at the University of Central Florida this week to present oral arguments before panels of attorneys and judges.
Nearly 100 students will compete in the South Atlantic Regional Undergraduate Moot Court Qualifying Tournament sponsored by UCF’s Department of Legal Studies. The competition will be held Friday and Saturday, Oct. 26-27, in Health and Public Affairs building I.
Moot court tournaments are typically held in law school, but exposing undergraduates to the competition early in their legal studies helps them polish their critical thinking and communication skills, organizers say.
Students will compete in teams of two for three rounds each on Friday. The teams that make the best arguments about subjects such as affirmative action and freedom of association will advance to Saturday’s single-elimination rounds.
Students from UCF and Duke University will be among the competitors. The top 20 percent of teams will earn an automatic invitation to the national moot court tournament in Virginia in January.
More than 100 local attorneys and judges have been recruited to evaluate the student teams, including Belvin Perry Jr., chief judge of Florida’s Ninth Judicial Circuit Court, who will be among the judges for the tournament’s final round.
To learn more about the tournament, visit South Atlantic Regional Tournament Information. Click here to watch a video about last year’s competition.