Practice Makes Perfect
In its long history at BU Law—dating back to at least 1875—the moot court program has undergone a series of shifts to become what it is today.
Photos by Bryce Vickmark; historical photos courtesy of BU Photo Archives
Practice Makes Perfect
In its long history at BU Law—dating back to at least 1875—the moot court program has undergone a series of shifts to become what it is today.
When Robert Volk (’78), who served as associate professor of legal writing and director of the Legal Writing and Appellate Advocacy programs at BU Law from 1982 until 2022, was asked about his 1L moot court argument, he said he remembered it like it was yesterday.
“My judge was [Professor Emerita] Fran Miller (‘65), and the case was about municipal immunity,” he said. “It was in the small courtroom on the sixth floor, and I was nervous, like everyone else.”
While he didn’t participate in the optional 2L moot court competitions (Edward C. Stone, open to all 2Ls, and the invitation-only Homer Albers), Volk did see an opportunity to improve them. So, when he accepted the job of director of the writing program, he told the dean at the time, William Schwartz (‘55), that he would only take the position if he could hire a full-time administrator to help run the moot court program.
“Before that, the students had run it themselves, sometimes with the help of whichever faculty member had time,” Volk said. It wasn’t the first time the school had sought to improve the moot court program. In its long history at BU Law—dating back to at least 1875—the exercise has undergone a series of shifts to become what it is today.
In New England Magazine in 1886, Benjamin R. Curtis Jr., then a professor at BU Law, wrote that students and faculty met every Saturday for moot court, with a professor serving as chief justice and two students as associate justices. By 1889, students were required to take part in at least two moot court cases during their senior year.
When Homer Albers (1885) assumed the role of dean in 1912, he made plans to advance the program. Albers was a notable trial attorney in Boston and professor of contracts and practice & pleading. His former student, Hon. Harry K. Stone (1916, 1918, Hon. ‘47), whose 1943 gift named the competition in Albers’ honor, noted in Bostonia that “feeling as he did that graduates of the law school should be good trial lawyers, he was keenly interested in the use of the moot court by students.”
Albers hired Hon. A.K. Cohen of the Municipal Court of the City of Boston to make the practice sessions operate as closely as possible to a real court. The plan worked. In a 1915–16 report, Dean Albers noted that a participating judge had remarked that the students were “better prepared than many attorneys who had argued their cases before him while he was on the bench.” The program continued under Judge Cohen’s leadership until 1932, when the Great Depression forced the school to reduce its staff.
BU Law moot court finalists, April 24, 1957.
Ian Gillen (´19) and Alexandra Arnold (´19) shake hands after completing their oral arguments.
Left: BU Law moot court finalists, April 24, 1957.
Right: Ian Gillen (´19) and Alexandra Arnold (´19) shake hands after completing their oral arguments.
Deborah (’93) and Nigel Telman (’93) won Best Respondent’s Brief and Best Overall Brief at the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition in 1992.
Albers Moot Court volunteer judges, Hon. Kermit Lipez, US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Hon. Ralph Gantz, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Hon. Albert Diaz, US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Left: Deborah (’93) and Nigel Telman (’93) won Best Respondent’s Brief and Best Overall Brief at the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition in 1992.
Right: Albers Moot Court volunteer judges, Hon. Kermit Lipez, US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, Hon. Ralph Gantz, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and Hon. Albert Diaz, US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
By the 1960s, the seeds of the modern program had begun to take root. While a trial program was required in the 3L year, a voluntary appellate moot court exercise began in the second semester of the 1L year and turned competitive in the second year with the Homer Albers Competition. By 1975, the Edward C. Stone Moot Court Competition—named for the Class of 1900 graduate and 1944 BU honorary degree recipient who served in the Massachusetts State Senate and on the BU Board of Trustees—had been introduced as a requirement for participating in Albers.
“The Stone competition is one of those rare opportunities in law school where students are challenged to research and write a legal document with only the assistance of their teammates,” says Jennifer Taylor McCloskey (’05), who has helped Professor Volk run the moot court program since 2008 and took over as director in fall 2022.
Having two second-year competitions is unique among law schools, McCloskey says. “This program structure means 1L moot court is noncompetitive, a pure learning experience,” she says. “And it allows a 2L who wants to do the skill building in Stone—but maybe is interested in a clinic or another opportunity in the spring semester—to get some experience beyond the 1L year.”
As she builds on past work to advance the program, McCloskey is introducing additional workshops to help students prepare and is looking into more opportunities for students to connect with the competition judges.
“These competitions are meant to be skill-building opportunities, but they are also occasions for judges and alumni to come meet our students,” McCloskey says. “We are creating more programming that exposes our students to alumni, to judges, and to the skills that are so important for them to develop.”
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