Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The 2013 Competition Results

The 2013 Harold H. Greene and Joyce Hens Green National Security Law Moot Court Competition was held February 9-10, 2013 at the George Washington University Law School.  Twenty-two teams from institutions all over the country participated, and the Final Round was argued in front of DC District Court Judge Richard Leon, former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Andrew Effron, and cybersecurity expert David Delaney.  The Competition's Chair was GW Law 3L Kyle T. Jones, and the Vice-Chairs were GW Law 2Ls Madeline Cohen and Laura Duncan.

The 2013 Final Round featured (from left to right) cybersecurity expert David Delaney;
former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Andrew Effron,
Catholic University's Michael Ellement and Richard Fox, George Washington University's
Bryce Blum and Josh Champagne, and 
DC District Court Judge Richard Leon.
The results of the Competition were as follows:

THE CHAMPIONS
The George Washington University Law School
Bryce Blum & Josh Champagne

THE RUNNERS-UP

Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law
Michael Ellement & Richard Fox

THE BEST OVERALL COMPETITORS
1) Christopher Rigali - Fordham University School of Law
2) Bryce Blum - The George Washington University Law School
3) Palak Shah - DePaul University College of Law

THE BEST ORALISTS
1) Bryce Blum - The George Washington University Law School
2) Tim Keane - Baylor Law School
3) Christopher Rigali - Fordham University School of Law

THE BEST BRIEFWRITERS
1) Fordham University School of Law - Ilene Goodman & Christopher Rigali
2) The George Washington University Law School - Bryce Blum & Josh Champagne
3) DePaul University College of Law - Ben Ruffcorn & Palak Shah

Congratulations to all competitors on a fantastic Competition!

Any institution interested in sending competitors to next year's Competition should contact nslmootcourt@gmail.com by October 2013.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The Hon. Andrew S. Effron to Judge the Final Round!

More news on the judging front: Judge Andrew S. Effron will be judging the Competition's Final Round, which will be held at 1:00pm in the George Washington University Law School's Jacob Burns Moot Courtroom on Sunday, February 10, 2013.

The Competition is thrilled to have secured the services of Judge Effron, who served as the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Services from 2006 to 2011, and who continues to serve as a senior judge on the same court.  Judge Effron is a graduate of Harvard Law School and The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School; before his appointment to the bench he acted as Associate General Counsel at the Department of Defense, and as General Counsel and Minority Counsel of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The addition of Judge Effron to the panel for the Competition Final, where he will join Judge Richard Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (see the announcement regarding Judge Leon below), will undoubtedly make the Competition an even stronger one!


Best of luck to our competitors as they complete their Competition briefs over the next few days.

Monday, November 19, 2012

The 2013 Official Competition Packet is Released

Competitors and coaches, the Official Competition Packet for the 2013 Harold H. Greene & Joyce Hens Green National Security Law Moot Court Competition has been e-mailed to all competitors and coaches as of 2:00pm (EST) today, Monday, November 19, 2012. The Competition’s first foray into the new and ever-evolving world of cybersecurity, the problem takes on the interesting question of the interplay between U.S. “cyber-strikes” and the War Powers Resolution, and the nebulous area of law often feared (yet so frequently encountered) by national security litigators—the political question doctrine.

Please direct all questions to NSLMootCourt@gmail.com. Per the Competition Rules, we reserve the right to publish on this blog any question that is deemed to be of universal relevance; rest assured that the questioner's identity will be concealed in all such cases.

We encourage all Competitors to continue checking the Competition’s Official Blog for further updates. Best of luck!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Competition Registration Has Closed – Competition Problem to be Released on Monday, November 19, 2012

As of 5pm today, registration for the 2013 Harold H. Greene & Joyce Hens Green National Security Law Moot Court Competition at The George Washington University Law School officially closed. Eighteen schools will be in attendance, and all of the Competition’s slots have been filled once again (as some schools are sending two teams). The list of participating institutions is as follows:
  • Baylor Law School (the Competition’s defending champions, and home to last year’s “Best Overall Competitor”) 
  • Brigham Young University’s J. Reuben Clark Law School 
  • Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law 
  • DePaul University College of Law 
  • Duke University School of Law 
  • Florida State University College of Law 
  • Fordham University School of Law 
  • George Washington University Law School 
  • Georgetown University Law Center (home to last year’s “Best Oralist”) 
  • Harvard Law School 
  • New York University School of Law 
  • South Texas College of Law 
  • University of Miami School of Law 
  • University of Michigan Law School 
  • University of South Dakota School of Law 
  • University of Virginia School of Law (home to the authors of last year’s “Best Team Brief”) 
  • Widener University School of Law 
  • William and Mary Law School 
On behalf of The George Washington University Law School’s Moot Court Executive board, welcome to the Competition!

The 2013 Official Competition Packet, which includes this year’s problem, will be released on Monday, November 19, 2012. The Packet will be sent to each registered competitor and coach; if any competitor or coach has an additional e-mail address (i.e., an e-mail address other than the one included on the Competition’s registration form) that he or she would like the Packet sent to, please contact us at NSLMootCourt@gmail.com as soon as possible.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

The Hon. Richard J. Leon to Serve as the 2013 Competition’s Final Round Chief Judge!


This just in…  The Hon. Richard J. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has confirmed that he will serve as the Chief Judge of the Harold H. Greene & Joyce Hens Green National Security Law Moot Court Competition’s final round.

Judge Richard J. Leon
Judge Leon, who will also be present for the awards ceremony that will immediately follow the final round, brings prodigious national security law credentials to the Competition.  Judge Leon was appointed to the United States District Court in February 2002.  During his tenure on the bench, he has presided over numerous Guantanamo detainee trials, and he penned the landmark opinion that was famously upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that has reached “household name” status among national security law scholars—Boumediene v. Bush.

Prior to his appointment to the court, Judge Leon:
  • Acted as Deputy Chief Minority Counsel for the U.S. House Select “Iran-Contra” Committee
  • Served as counsel to Congress in the investigations of three sitting Presidents
  • Acted as Chief Minority Counsel to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s “October Surprise” Task Force
  • Worked for the U.S. Department of Justice in a number of capacities, including as a Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York
  • Served as a Commissioner on the Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control


Needless to say, the Competition Committee is thrilled by Judge Leon’s acceptance of the Chief Judge position.  His judicial acumen and breadth of experience will undoubtedly make the Competition an even stronger one.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Invitations Are Out

All of the invites have been sent out for the February 2013 Competition, and slots are filling up fast.  If you are interested in participating and your institution has yet to hear from us, act now!  Send us an invitation request to nslmootcourt@gmail.com; identify the ABA-approved law school that you are affiliated with, and briefly explain your interest in the Competition.  Please do so sooner rather than later--though our Competition's registration deadline is November 16th, we anticipate filling our available competitor slots well before then.

Schools that have received an invite and are still processing the paperwork, please shoot us an e-mail to let us know that you intend to compete.  That way, we can do our best to ensure that no one that is looking forward to coming is squeezed out of the competition.

Also, we anticipate having an exciting announcement regarding the judging of the competition's final round in the very near future...  Keep checking in here at the Competition's blog for updates!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The 2013 Competition - Topic & Dates Announced


Invitations to the competition will be mailed out in the next week or so, but (due to an explosion of interest in the competition) GW Law’s Moot Court Board has seen fit to release the following teaser of this year’s competition:

For over 20 years, the Harold H. Greene & Joyce Hens Green National Security Law Moot Court Competition at The George Washington University Law School has provided law students from across the country a unique opportunity to argue difficult—and vital—legal issues raised by the ever-evolving subject of national security law before judges from the national security law community.  Recent competitions have featured issues ranging from the legality of extraordinary rendition, and the First Amendment repercussions of the Espionage Act, to the constitutionality of the “material support” provisions of the Antiterrorism Act.  Adjudicated by an array of jurists and practitioners who specialize in national security law, the competition has developed into one of the premier fora for our nation’s budding advocates to hone their oral advocacy skills in this continually growing field.  In addition, the competition’s final round has traditionally featured prestigious judges and experts in the field, including:
  • Federal appeals court and district court judges, such as the Hon. Patricia Wald (D.C. Circuit)
  • William Barr, a former Acting Attorney General of the United States
  • James Woolsey, a former Director of Central Intelligence
  • Former directors of the FBI
  • Former solicitors general of the United States
Please check this site in the coming weeks for announcements of this year’s final round judges!

Each year, the competition focuses on an aspect of national security law that is both “cutting-edge” and topical, in hopes of offering competitors a chance to delve into an area of the field that is both exciting and of real relevance.  The details of this year’s competition problem will not be made public until the problem’s official release in November—but I am able to inform you that the burgeoning world of “cybersecurity” will be featured.

Contestants are eligible for awards and prizes recognizing their excellence in brief writing, oral advocacy, and overall team performance.  In addition, all competitors are invited to attend the competition’s official dinner on Saturday, February 9 (which is traditionally held at a downtown DC venue) to network and exchange “war stories” from the first day of the competition.

The three rounds of the competition will take place from Saturday, February 9 through Sunday, February 10, and include a preliminary round, a semifinal round, and a final round.  Each team will compete twice in the preliminary round, guaranteeing that all teams will have multiple opportunities to showcase their oral advocacy skills.  In addition, all competitors are encouraged to attend the final round, when awards will be distributed and final arguments will take place in front of a panel of highly esteemed judges.

Interested teams are asked to register as soon as their invitation is received!  To ensure that your school is on the invite list, or to request to be added to the list, please contact us at NSLMootCourt@gmail.com.  The registration fee is $400 per team, or $650 for two teams from the same law school.  All registrations must be received by Friday, November 16, 2012.  Participation is limited to the first 26 teams that respond.  A maximum of two teams per school may register.  The competition problem will be released on November 19, 2012, and competitor briefs will be due in final form no later than January 17, 2013.

Please direct all inquiries regarding the competition to NSLMootCourt@gmail.com.  We’re looking forward to seeing you in February.