February 19, 2004
May It Please the Court
Yesterday I judged an appellate Moot Court competition for Tulane Law School. The competition was one round in Tulane's annual Mardi Gras Sports Law competition (Tulane offers a certificate in Sports Law, a field I didn't know existed until I went to law school). Students from law schools far and wide attend this tournament for a chance to bring more accolades to their law program and to drink heavily on their school's dime.
The tournament is set up so that each room has two sides competing against each other (appellant and appellee), with two "attorneys" on each side. There are supposed to be three judges in each room, as appellate arguments are typically held before three judge panels (except for a few hearings which are held before the entire court of appeal, and are thus called hearings en banc). We only ended up with two judges in our room, which worked out well in the end.
When schools enter the tournament, they receive a packet of information which tells them the facts of the fictitious case, and what happened at the (again fictitious) trial court level. They then conduct legal research, write an appellate brief (the main reason why I never did appellate Moot Court in law school -- more writing? No thank you.), and argue their case before us, the judges.
This year's topic was a football antitrust issue (stay with me here). The case involved two non-BCS schools, who had perfect records for that season, who were not invited to participate in any bowl games because they were from the same conference, which violates BCS rules. They sued the BCS, claiming that its system for selecting schools to compete in the bowl games and championship game violates the Sherman Antitrust Act (if you're unfamiliar with it, give Bill Gates a call for a refresher course). Basically, they claim that the BCS system creates "barriers to entry" into the market, and precludes them from the lucrative benefits of playing a bowl game, which include making oodles of money for their program, getting more press coverage, being able to more easily recruit good players, etc. Plaintiffs wanted the BCS to move to a playoff system.
As you read this blog entry, know this: I understand precious little about sports. When it comes to football, my knowledge level plummets. Don't believe me? Ask my husband (seriously, he'll vouch for this). I don't even understand the rules of football. I have this vague idea that it is a game of land acquisition. Beyond that, I'm very fuzzy on the details.
Additionally, before I received the bench brief for this competition (the packet of info they give the judges that briefs each side of the case), I didn't know what the BCS was. The Pac-10? What in the hell is that? The Sherman Antitrust Act? Now, that one I knew. When I looked over the bench brief, the only question that I could think of was: Who cares? This is football, for crying out loud!
Fortunately for me, I was able to muddle through with the most rudimentary knowledge of our nation's favorite sport by relying upon grilling the attorneys over questions about the law (shocking, I know). Actually, though, it was a lot of fun. I felt like I was judging American Idol (which must be why this is my third American Idol-related post this week), only all of the competitors were actually talented. And no, I didn't yell at anyone.
Posted by Kitty at February 19, 2004 10:34 PM
Comments
The best part of that for was discussing it and helping you do research and stuff. It reminded of old times. Yes, people, it may sound boring for a couple to discuss legal issues for fun, but then again, we're no ordinary couple.
Thanks, Jen for letting me 'help' you. :)
Posted by: Justin at February 20, 2004 12:38 PM
The interesting thing about these competitions is that one doesn't win on the merits, because you really have no control over the facts of the case (well, in real life you can't exactly make up fact -- unless you're a plaintiff's attorney -- wait, did I say that?, but you can choose your cases in real life, and you can't do that in these competitions). The competitors are judged based more upon their overall style than upon the legal arguments they present.
That being said, I liked the style and presentation of the plaintiffs (the non-BCS schools), and my co-justice liked the arguments of the BCS. I have no clue what Tulane did with our split opinion, but that's their problem. :)
Posted by: Jennifer at February 20, 2004 03:13 PM
"Game of land acquisition"
That made my morning.
Thanks.
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Posted by: greyhairedstranger at February 20, 2004 12:08 PM