By Journalist Kennedy Thomason (OSU).
Rep. Hutchins (OU) is back competing in Moot Court this session.
Rep. Hutchins (OU) has made her return.
A runner-up in last session’s Moot Court competition, Hutchins is excited to be back.
Hutchins said she values the skills Moot Court requires.
“It’s definitely a very different skill because oral presentation is definitely a big part of that,” Hutchins said. “But on the other hand, you have to do so much research into all of the cases that they give you and then do even more research on how to actually apply those to legal argument. But, I’ve loved it so far.”
A Moot competitor and House representative, Hutchins is an involved delegate. She is also a semi-finalist for this session’s competition.
Hutchins attended her first session last semester. Initially, she thought Moot Court would be her primary focus. Then she became involved in the House.
“Honestly, when I joined OIL, I thought that Moot Court was going to be my thing,” Hutchins said. “I thought that’s why I was joining. And then I was like, ‘Well, I might as well be in the House,’ and I didn’t even bring any bills last session, and I got here and I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’ but I got into the House and just immediately fell in love with everything that was happening. I didn’t want to stop. I knew I wanted to come back next semester and be in the House.”
Hutchins was offered a seat on the Supreme Court last session, but decided to turn the offer down. She said she was honored to receive the offer, but wasn’t ready to give the rest of the competition up.
In her short time involved in OIL, Hutchins has noted some changes she would like to see with the Moot competition.
She explained her perspective as a member of a larger delegation. She said that due to the size of her delegation, she is afforded more resources than smaller ones.
“I think that it’s the job of the bigger delegations right now to reach out and help those smaller delegations that are struggling so much because they don’t have those resources,” Hutchins said. “They come into the competition not even knowing the proper decorum, the proper things to say, just because you have to say them, and that those delegations that have those resources really need to step up and start helping the smaller delegations that don’t.”
Hutchins also shared her desire for the Moot competition to return to its original nature. She said she feels like the competition has evolved from the spirit of Moot Court to competing for a seat on the Supreme Court.
“Sometimes the competition feels like the goal is to win to become a Supreme Court Justice,” Hutchins said. “And I feel like Moot, OIL Moot specifically, could be a better competition if we kind of return to the original spirit of the competition and just make it about analyzing precedent and having fun and just competing.”
Nevertheless, Hutchins is enthusiastic to be back in chambers and competing to win.