Rules for Mock Court

1. The course will resolve itself into a Mock Supreme Court during the class on Tuesday, November 2. At that time it will hear the cases of Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 487 (1954), and Gideon v. Wainwright 372 U.S. 335 (1963). These cases (and many others) can be accessed as follows:

2. There will be four "law firms" as assigned in class.

3. It is perhaps good advice that only one person should speak during the oral argument, but each firm may apportion the work load any way it wishes.

4. The lawyers who are not arguing the case will serve as the Court during the other case.

5. All firms must submit 15 copies of a written brief at the beginning of class on Tuesday. Each member of the class will get one copy of each brief. (Remember this Great Law: if you wait until the day the brief is due to print it, the computer will break down.) In addition, the opposing counsel and I must receive a copy of the brief by 7:30 p.m. on Monday (11/1) via e-mail.

6. During oral arguments, both sides will have six minutes in which to make their oral presentations. The speeches will be closely timed, and shown by time cards.

7. Petitioner may reserve for rebuttal up to ninety seconds of the six minutes allowed. But petitioner will be penalized if the rebuttal is used to develop an argument not already presented.

8. Respondent will stand only once and may not reserve time. Instead, respondent will be expected to rebut during the six minutes.

9. Unless something is unclear to the Chief Justice, the lawyers can expect not to be interrupted during the presentation. The Chief will interrupt if he cannot understand something. Firms should practice the oral argument among themselves so that it is in fact understandable to other minds.

10. When finished, lawyers will be allowed to remain in the room while the Court goes into "conference." But since lawyers are not supposed to be there at all, they must be careful not to make any gesture or noise while the Court is conferring. Any violation of this rule, and a lawyer will be thrown out of the classroom and a serious penalty assessed.

11. This may also be good advice. Although the members of the Court will have read the briefs, lawyers will be prudent not to expect that the Justices will understand much of what they read or even much of what they hear in oral argument. Clarity, then, and patience, will be the hallmarks of most winning lawyers' presentations.

12. As assigned, three "justices" will write opinions on each of the two cases, to be submitted by classtime Monday, 11/8.

12. Grades for the Mock Court will be shared by all members of the "law firm" preparing the written brief and prepping the "litigator" for his/her appearance before the bench. Those justices assigned to write opinions will also be graded on the quality of their analyses.