Law schools acquire reputations for success in various areas. Overall, it seems that Harvard and Yale take turns holding the top ranking in "U.S. News and World Report." That same magazine ranks the Vermont Law School as having the best environmental law program, and top-law-schools.com says UCLA has perhaps the best entertainment law program.
Rankings are subjective and change based on the weight given to various factors. There is little doubt, however, that Florida State University College of Law has the best Moot Court Program in the country for 2010.
The Moot Court team has gone on a run of amazing success. Many of my friends are winning national championships, and I hope they do not mind me bragging on them here (If they see this blog entry but do not want their name returning a Google hit, they can Facebook me and I'll take it down).
The Moot Court team has won four national competitions in 2010:
Steven Muscatello and Ana Barton won a Religious Freedom Law Competition in Washington, DC, beating Duke Law school in the final round.
Mike Redondo and Andrew Grogan won a National Security Law Competition in Washington, DC, beating Cornell in the final round. James Woolsey, former CIA Director, sat as a judge on the panel for the final round.
This weekend, Jennifer Gutai, Rebecca Swindull and Lauren Davis won a Family Law competition in Albany, NY.
Also this weekend, Tiffany Roddenberry and Yordanka Nedyalkova won a Civil Rights Law Competition in Washington, DC. Yordanka won best oralist, Tiffany got second best oralist and their brief placed second for the Best Brief Award.
Rounding out this weekend, Thomas Philpot and Holly Griffin were finalists at a Constitutional Law competition in Chapel Hill, NC.
Earlier this semester, Emily Whelchel and Patrick Bennett made the semifinals of a Constitutional Law competition in Charleston, SC. They also won the Best Brief Award at this competition.
I venture to say that no other law school in the country can match the success that the FSU Moot Court Team has enjoyed this year. They are a clear #1. The trophy case is overflowing.
I am only an outsider looking in at our program, so I can't say what the secret is for their success besides bright students and hard work. I know that Professor Nat Stern puts in a lot of time to get these students ready for competition, and I've seen the students first hand at the law school library struggling over their briefs and working out their arguments.
Tryouts for the team are in April. Tryouts were a great experience for me last year, though I did not make the team. Obviously, they picked a good group. I encourage all the first year students to give it a go and see if you have what it takes to join the best Moot Court Program in the nation.
Check out the public radio news report on the team at http://www.fsu.com/Radio-News/Florida-State-moot-court-team-sweeping-national-stage
-Nathan Marshburn
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I hardly think your program qualifies as the best in the United States for 2010. My own alma mater, Seton Hall Law, which regularly finishes in the top 5 or top 10 programs in ranking by LSA (Law School Advocacy) last year had the following successes:
20 Awards for the year.
2 Regionals Champions at NAAC;
1st Place at Whittier Juvenile Law;
3rd Consecutive Selection to the National Moot Court Invitational in Houston;
Also, and for the record, Stetson Law is routinely the best program in the country, although they have not fared as well this year as in the past. They are OBJECTIVELY the best, as their number of competition wins and awards routinely exceeds that of other programs.
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