CARISSA MARSH
A &E Assistant
Law students from 24 universities across the country will come to Malibu to argue entertainment law issues in the Pepperdine law school’s eigth annual National Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition from Nov. 11 to 13.
The weekend signifies the culmination of months of preparation by both law students and faculty.
The event serves as an opportunity for the students to argue novel entertainment law issues before some of the best entertainment lawyers in Los Angeles. Registration for this year’s competition closed at 24 teams, the maximum number allowed.
While no Pepperdine School of Law students can enter the competition, third-year law student Travis Uhlenhopp serves as the chair of the entertainment-law competition and has been planning the event and working on it since July.
“Its kind of a big undertaking,” Uhlenhopp said. “It’s the most unique opportunity a law student can have to organize a competition solo,” Uhlenhopp said, though he acknowledges the help his advisers have provided.
“It’s been a challenge. I was interested in proving to myself that I could do it.”
About Moot Court
The moot court competition deals with appellate advocacy, which is different from a mock trial, which deals with trial advocacy. In appellate advocacy, the lawyers do not introduce new facts into the case – they merely argue the law with the facts that have already been established by a lower court.
In the realm of law, a moot court is an exercise in which students argue both sides of an appeal from a fictitious lawsuit in a mock court.
The competition serves as a practice arena for the real world.
The competition begins with all teams arguing in three preliminary rounds.
Teams advance from the preliminary rounds to the elimination rounds based on their win/loss records, with point differentials used when necessary. A panel of judges also grades all of the briefs, and the average brief grades count for 30 percent of the team score throughout the competition.
There are three elimination rounds. Advancement during these rounds is single-elimination. After the final round, a reception is held in which the winning team of the competition is announced.
At the end of the competition, the team that prevails gets “bragging rights,” as well as a plaque, said Nancy McGinnis, associate dean of the School of Law and the faculty adviser for the event.
“We give lots of awards and prizes,” McGinnis said. There are petitioner and respondent brief awards that are decided by a panel of five alumni.
Since there are 24 teams, the law school recruited dozens of judges. Many of the judges are alumni or members of the entertainment law community in Southern California, McGinnis said.
“We have a huge base of attorneys to draw from,” McGinnis said. “This is where things are happening.”
Pepperdine’s Preparation
Before the competition begins, there is much work to be done. The problem and rules for the competition were made available to the teams Sept. 6.
Each team then had to turn a brief – the main facts and points of law in a case – by Oct. 11. As chair of the competition, Uhlenhopp has been consumed by research in preparation for the competition.
He wrote the problem, or case, that the teams will argue as well as the bench brief, a document that is sent to the judges so they can familiarize themselves with both sides of the topic. He must also read each of the schools’ briefs.
“I have to make sure my argument is better than theirs,” Uhlenhopp said about reading the briefs. “I am staring at a mountain of papers.”
Uhlenhopp was guided by his interest in intellectual property and music law when he decided the foundation for his case.
He chose relevant and current issues to make the competition interesting, relatable and applicable, Uhlenhopp said.
“It was fun finding issues that are relevant to me and my friends,” he said. “I wanted something that was as realistic as possible so people could argue something that could really happen.”
Because students travel from around the nation to compete in the event, the competition schedule allows time for the student advocates to go sightseeing in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.
While Uhlenhopp is committed to making the competition interesting and relevant to the visiting students, he also wants to show them a good time.
To give the students a taste of Los Angeles life, Uhlenhopp has planned a social event at a club in Hollywood on Saturday night.
“Our purpose for this competition is to show other law schools what we’re all about,” Uhlenhopp said.
“We have the academics, the diversity. I hope this competition shows the caliber that Pepperdine really is at.”
Both McGinnis and Uhlenhopp emphasize that the competition is open to the public and anyone who is interested is welcome to attend.
“We have some of the brightest law students arguing the issues,” Uhlenhopp said. “It’s an amazing thing to watch.”
Competition history
The entertainment-law competition developed because a moot court board member had a deep interest in entertainment law, McGinnis said.
The moot court board, which is made up of second and third year law students, investigated and found that only one other school has an entertainment-law competition.
The school, Benjamin Cardozo School of Law in New York, has its competition in the spring, so it was decided that Pepperdine would have its in the fall. Cardozo will participate in this year’s competition.
11-10-2005