Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court: Rule Change Update

September 30, 2010

Rule Change Update - Outside Assistance

Please note that Section 5 of the rules has been changed to emphasize that students are expected to work independently.

SECTION 5: OUTSIDE ASSISTANCE

(a)    In General. Briefs must be independently written and researched. Although participants may discuss the issues with other students, each participant’s arguments must be his or her own.

(b)    Research Assistance. Participants may not receive research assistance.

(c)    Professors and Practitioners. Consulting with professors or practitioners about the specific questions presented or facts of the record is not permitted.

(d)    Editing. Participants may have their briefs edited for typographical and grammatical errors. Participants must not receive substantive or structural comments on their briefs except for those provided by competition judges after the completion of a round.

(e)    Disqualification. Failure to abide by this rule, as judged by the director, will result in disqualification.

Rules of Competition

About the Competition

The Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison Moot Court Program

About the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Final Arguments

The Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court final arguments, part of the Paul Weiss Moot Court Program, are the culmination of a three-round elimination competition in appellate advocacy.

This year, 56 students entered the competition. In the qualifying round, held during the fall semester, students briefed one of two issues on behalf of either the appellant or the United States, and presented their positions in oral arguments before panels composed of alumni practitioners and professors.

On the strength of their brief and oral argument scores, 20 competitors advanced to the spring semifinal rounds. There, they again briefed and argued a side of the same case. On April 7, the four students with the highest scores in the spring competition present their final arguments to our distinguished panel of judges, who will award the Lawrence S. Greenbaum Prize for the best oral presentation in the final round. Professor Philip Genty and Steven Zundell ’14, director of this year’s Harlan Fiske Stone competition will recognize the best final round brief.

This year marks the 89th anniversary of the Stone Moot Court, which was founded at Columbia Law School in 1925 by the Story Inn—a chapter of the legal fraternity Phi Delta Phi. The competition is named in honor of Harlan Fiske Stone (1872–1946), who was a member of the Story Inn while a student at the Law School.

Stone was named dean of Columbia Law School in 1910. He served in that capacity until 1924, when President Calvin Coolidge appointed him attorney general of the United States. He was named to the U.S. Supreme Court the following year and was elevated to chief justice in 1941.

This program is made possible by the generous support of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

Materials

September 30, 2010

Rule Change Update - Outside Assistance