Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Moot Court Round 1.1

My first moot court round (well, half of it -- we each go once as petitioner and respondent in round one) is now complete, and I think it went rather well. The judges told me I spoke a little fast, which I take to be a big victory (normally I speak blindingly fast). They also noted that I overgesticulate, which is definitely true. But they had naught but happy words for my substance and seemed generally pretty satisfied, so, yay.

1 comment:

N. Friedman said...

I helped to run my law school's moot court board, as a duty for being on law review. I wrote all of the briefs for the final competition and also wrote the judge's memorandum.

As for my performance when I was a freshman, I recall the judges telling me that they were afraid to ask me questions for fear I would faint from fright. They had that one exactly right. It took me years to get over fear of public speaking.

In any event, it is better to talk fast than to be tongue tied like I used to be - 30 years ago, that is. In real life, I think you will find that most judges prefer coherence, no matter how presented, to incoherence. Most judges tend to be pretty friendly and helpful no matter how you speak unless, of course, you start playing games and get caught at it - in which case you can be a brilliant speaker but will get nowhere fast or slow. So, I think you have the most important part down.