Moot history
Moot court try-outs are over!! For some of us. My partner is a really calm (seeming) guy, but I, on the other hand, am terribly spastic. During our practice rounds, I couldn't focus, I cursed, I damned the whole thing to hell. Everyone else in class was so articulate; my words were a jumbled mess. All I wanted was to be able to answer the questions half-intelligibly and not piss on my only suit. Well, my suit stayed dry and I answered the questions, not brilliantly, but adequately. Adequately! Yes!! Definitely not moot court material, but glad to be able to contain this slobbering mess.
People seemed to feel that the constant stream of questions was preferable to relying on ourselves to come up with stuff to say. The two bits of silence, which were probably a test to see how well I got back on my "roadmap," (whatever that is), were catastrophic. It seemed nearly impossible in that silence to pick a point and continue with it, since we had already skimmed through the whole issue. After a long, long pause, I picked something and tried to go with it, awkwardly, but a judge bailed me out. Thank you, judge.
At the end, they had us leave the room for a few minutes and then re-enter after evaluating us. Before, they were antagonistic and almost mean, but when we returned, they were totally cool and supportive. Now, it isn't clear how much of their commentary was to make us better about making total asses out of ourselves, but it was still great that we got a chance to talk with them instead of just leaving the room cold after our arguments.
My opposing counsel was complimented on his smile, which led our professor to think that the whole thing is just a scam to explore the 1L dating pool. Otherwise, they also liked his demeanor and how well he responded to their obviously biased questions (They personally agreed with my side). Their only complaint was that he was slightly too aggressive at one point. They told me that I spoke quickly, flailed my arms about, said "I" too much, and shouldn't have put down my client. Oops. There was more, but anyone preparing for moot court should keep those things in mind. The hand gestures weren't terrible, but they cautioned that many judges don't dig it.
That may have been more stressful than finals. At least with finals, you're being graded anonymously. Here, you're playing make-believe with fellow students, who are literally judging, but also have this kind of secret information about you. It's like getting changed in the locker room; you all see each other naked, and act like it's totally normal, but in the real world you can look at each other and think, I know what you look like without clothes.
People seemed to feel that the constant stream of questions was preferable to relying on ourselves to come up with stuff to say. The two bits of silence, which were probably a test to see how well I got back on my "roadmap," (whatever that is), were catastrophic. It seemed nearly impossible in that silence to pick a point and continue with it, since we had already skimmed through the whole issue. After a long, long pause, I picked something and tried to go with it, awkwardly, but a judge bailed me out. Thank you, judge.
At the end, they had us leave the room for a few minutes and then re-enter after evaluating us. Before, they were antagonistic and almost mean, but when we returned, they were totally cool and supportive. Now, it isn't clear how much of their commentary was to make us better about making total asses out of ourselves, but it was still great that we got a chance to talk with them instead of just leaving the room cold after our arguments.
My opposing counsel was complimented on his smile, which led our professor to think that the whole thing is just a scam to explore the 1L dating pool. Otherwise, they also liked his demeanor and how well he responded to their obviously biased questions (They personally agreed with my side). Their only complaint was that he was slightly too aggressive at one point. They told me that I spoke quickly, flailed my arms about, said "I" too much, and shouldn't have put down my client. Oops. There was more, but anyone preparing for moot court should keep those things in mind. The hand gestures weren't terrible, but they cautioned that many judges don't dig it.
That may have been more stressful than finals. At least with finals, you're being graded anonymously. Here, you're playing make-believe with fellow students, who are literally judging, but also have this kind of secret information about you. It's like getting changed in the locker room; you all see each other naked, and act like it's totally normal, but in the real world you can look at each other and think, I know what you look like without clothes.
posted by Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon at 8:56 PM
3 Comments:
that was an excellent entry.
it was a great story lacy ludy. M-lova is lovin your sweet ass too now. I know that I much prefer the stream of questions to the silent bench. I managed to experience both situations in one oral argument. And either one was terrible. But I'll tell you. I will never ever forget what Rule 11 is all about...
you all have too much time on your hands. . .
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