Western State University College of Law

Western State University College of Law’s Moot Courtroom serves both classroom and advocacy courtroom for training and moot court events. The fifty seat courtroom gives students the opportunity to develop their oral presentation skills in a realistic setting during mock competition drills. Courtroom realism is further enhanced by the “judges” for the internal appellate moot court competitions, which include Western State alumni, practicing attorneys and active judges from the local legal community.

I felt one of the things that we needed here at Western State was a moot court that would rival Stanford or UCLA or others and we just didn’t have it. We didn’t have the money. We didn’t have the wherewithal, but there was a great need and it was one of the things I loved was going to Santa Ana, but it was off campus so with the help of the university we decided to build a moot court here at Western State with the most technological advancements and to make it like a courtroom so nobody would have to do anything but hit the elevator, go up to three or four and have our own moot court. So, it was my privilege to do that.

Second semester we go into persuasive writing, and actually second semester is a little more fun because they actually get a client and they can start arguing for their client. So it’s a very traditional program starting with subjective writing evolving into persuasive writing the entire yearculminates in an oral competition called the Moot Court Competition, which is really fun and I think a lot of the students think of sort of the highlight of their first year, participating in this competition.

When I taught Trial Practice, it took place here in the moot court room because this is really in some ways better than a real courtroom. Because most courtrooms, the government funds, agency funds are not that high. They can’t afford to make it look as nice as here and all that’s available here. But whether I teach Trial Practice or Evidence Practice, I will be sitting at the bench, acting as the judge. The students, the lawyer advocates as they would be, would have to stand up at the podium just like we’re in a regular courtroom and argue their position one at a time. The judge would make comments or ask them to follow up until I, as a judge would make a ruling. So it really conveys to them the real life experience that they will face when they do go in front of a judge. I try not to be as tough as some of the judges, but I do push the students so that they’re forced to think on their feet, as the expression goes.

It makes a world of difference. Once you become a lawyer, you pass the bar, when you walk in a courtroom and feel like you have been there. You have the experience. It takes away a big edge off that nervousness that exists with every trial lawyer. The familiarity with the proceedings, familiarity with the surroundings, the process, which would terrify a student who would first come in without any prior experience.

Well, in our trial practice class for example we work real hard at trying to get them to make their mistakes in our court room rather than in front of their clients for the first time. And so we think that’s a very important thing to get as much practical experience of the most common types of things that they are going to have.