By Journalist Amaya Brooks (OBU)
The scope of the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Legislature competition is wide and varied. One of the aspects of the OIL competition is the Moot Court competition. This competition gives competitors the opportunity to practice preparing a court case and the chance to be either on the respondent or petitioner side. Our esteemed Justices of the OIL Supreme Court consist of all former competitors who won in the Moot Court competition.
Moot Court operates as a mock appellate court, in which competitors are given a pre-written court case and decision, including reference cases, to build a petitioner and respondent arguments. This is an incredibly unique experience for both the competitors in Moot Court as well as the Justices presiding over the Moot Court competition.
Justice Emma Busby was a competitor in Moot Court and won the competition in the Fall of 2020. “I’m very excited for this session for the competition. We have twelve in the competition. This is my 5th session, my first was over zoom, and it’s been very exciting to be back at the capitol these past couple sessions.” Her story and experience in OIL is but one of the awesome success stories that OIL has been a part of. “OIL has legitimately changed my life in so many ways. I have my job because of OIL; my career path because OIL made me feel comfortable going in that direction. I have a roommate because of OIL. Because of LG Minter, I am a dog mom. Moot in particular has done that, and I’m excited to have a great competition and new competitors.”
Today, the Moot Court competition has kicked off with practice rounds, a time where competitors have the opportunity to practice presenting the Moot Court case, without being scored, and receive feedback from all of the Justices. Justice Sadler says, “We have a lot of competitors, and we have a lot of competitors where this is their first time, and they have a lot of room to grow.” This is the first time for Justice Sadler to be involved in the Moot Court competition as a Justice. “It’s been an interesting learning experience, but it’s been great to get connected to the Justices again.”
The practice round phase of the Moot Court competition also provides a great experience for the “mooters.” After his practice round, Representative Young (OSU) expressed great relief at being done. “This being my first time in moot, I was not sure what level of preparedness was required, so I was a little uncertain going in.” Especially for first time competitors, the comments and feedback from the Justices can be extremely helpful. Senator Ramsey (SE), also a competitor in the Moot Court competition, said, “The judges were very nice with their feedback.” Senator Ramsey also expressed a sentiment shared by the majority of Moot Court competitors: “It was awesome. I was way more intimidated coming in than I am now.”
As these competitors continue to prepare their cases for the first rounds of Moot Court tomorrow, be encouraged! Moot Court can be an amazing opportunity for OIL people to be involved in an undergraduate level Moot Court competition and gain skills that can take them far in their future career and personal endeavors.