Edward C. Stone Moot Court Competition

Stone Moot Court Competition 2026

The Edward C. Stone Moot Court Competition is only open to all second-year JD students,* and runs from late September through mid-November. Students work in teams of two on one of three moot court problems. The Stone participants with the highest combined brief and oral argument scores are invited to participate in the second semester Homer Albers Prize Moot Court Competition. (Note that the number of students invited to participate in the Homer Albers Prize competition may vary based on the number of students competing in Stone, but will be between 16 and 32 students.) Jen Taylor McCloskey, the Executive Director of Advocacy and Legal Skills Programs, will hold an informational meeting for all interested participants early in the September (see dates below).

Competition materials will be posted to this page as they become available. If you are competing, please check this site frequently.

Students do not receive academic credit for their participation in moot court, but participation in Stone is a prerequisite for participation on any of BU Law’s school-funded intramural moot court teams, including teams organized by students and student groups.

*Second-year students who transferred from a different school’s JD program are eligible to participate in Stone. Second-year students who transferred to the JD program from the LLM program cannot participate in Stone until they have completed the Esdaile Moot Court Program. Thus, LLM transfer students are permitted to participate in Stone as 3Ls instead. If you have questions about your eligibility, please contact Jen McCloskey, at jataylor@bu.edu.

2026 Stone Directors: Paola Caliguiran, David Spinelli, Jason Walker

Email: stonemc@bu.edu

NOTE: Content will be added as it becomes available.

Registration

The Application is now open! Applications close on on September 22, 2026, at 2:00 p.m.
NOTE: you must log in with your BU Email address to access the form.

Competition Rules

Stone Rules 2026

Moot Court Manual 2026-2027

Important Competition Dates

Dates are always subject to change, including the problem release date, but any changes will be announced here and via email.

Information Session
Tuesday, September 8, 1 – 2 p.m.
Room 414
Recording and Slides will be posted.

Application Due Date
Tuesday, September 22, 2 p.m.
Application Form
NOTE: you must log in with your BU Email address to access the form.

Problem Release Date
Thursday, September 24 (subject to change)

Brief Writing Workshops [links will be added following the workshop]
Tuesday, September 29, 1 – 2 p.m.
All competitors: 1 – 1:40 p.m. in Room 414
2 Spring Credits (0 Fall)

Breakout Rooms (1:40 – 2 p.m.):

Problem 1: Room 414
Problem 2: Room 418
Problem 3: Room 420

Brief Writing Office Hours with Jen McCloskey
Note: If you want to attend office hours and these times do not work, let me know and I can extend them in one direction or another.

Dates to be announced.

Brief Due Date
Friday, October 23, by 3 p.m.

Oral Advocacy Workshop
Monday, October 26, 1 – 2 p.m. (Recording and Slides will be posted.)
Room 602

Oral Argument Open Practices
All in the Schell Courtroom (602)

Dates to be announced.

Oral Arguments
Arguments take place at 6:30 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays, and at 3 p.m. on Fridays. Additional times will be added if needed.
See Rules for additional information about scheduling and conflicts.

November 2 – 6
November 9 – 13
November 16 & 17 (Makeup arguments if needed)

Awards Announcement
We will announce the winners of the Best Brief and Best Oralist awards for each problem, as well as the names of the students invited to participate in Albers, at the Stone Awards Reception on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. The Reception will be held in the Charles River Room, and we will have plenty of food!

Problems

Problem Case Files (each problem contains two issues; teammates decide together who is briefing and arguing which issue).

ST-26-01 Problem

ST-26-02 Problem

ST-26-03 Problem

Brief Score Form

TOC and TOA Creation Resources

Student Briefs

Problem 1 Briefs

Problem 2 Briefs

Problem 3 Briefs

Argument Schedules

The oral argument schedules will be posted here as they become available. You need to be logged in with a BU email address to view the link. Contact the Help Desk if you have issues!

Week 2 (November 2 – 6)

Week 3 (November 9 – 12)

Oral Argument Score Form

Judge Guidance (for attorney judges)

Sample Briefs

Sample briefs are for reference only. Briefs from the Homer Albers Prize competition are longer than allowed under the Stone Competition rules. These samples are intended to give you a sense of what a high-scoring brief from our Albers honors competitions looks like; they may not conform perfectly to the rules (which are different in Stone – in particular, the length requirements are different). You should refer to the Stone Competition rules for format and length restrictions. We have also posted a sample appellate brief written by attorney Peter Brann, a graduate of the Law School and former Homer Albers Prize winner.

Peter Brann – Sample Appellate Brief

Sample Briefs (zip file)