Moot Court (GOVT 4367.

HN1) Course Syllabus

The University of Texas at Dallas – Spring 2011
Monday, 4:00 – 6:45 pm, GC 1.208 (CV Seminar Room)

Professor Contact Information

Anne Dutia
anne.dutia@utdallas.edu
972.883.6712
Office location: FO 2.704C
Office hours: Mondays, 3- 4 pm and Thursdays, 10 – 11 am, or by appointment

Course Description

Students prepare appellate arguments based on a hypothetical case that has two main Constitutional issues.
Working in two-person teams, students develop legal arguments for both the petitioner and respondent in the
case based on a closed set of approximately twenty actual precedents in addition to the facts specified in the
hypothetical case. Students compete against students from other schools in regional and national competitions
that are judged by law school students, professors and sitting jurists.

Student Learning Objectives/Outcomes

Students should expect:

1. To develop an ability to make oral presentations and to respond to intense questioning;
2. To gain an understanding of key constitutional concepts
3. To learn to read and analyze court cases; and
4. To develop analytical skills necessary for success in law school.

Required Textbooks and Materials

Materials for this course are found at www.tumca.org or at http://falcon.fsc.edu/mootcourt

It is useful to prepare a notebook (or to download on a laptop) the hypothetical case and the precedents that
must be used in developing arguments for the case.

Suggested books:
How to Please the Court. Edited by Paul Weizer ISBN: 978-0-8204-6949-2
Constitutional Law; The Laying Down the Law Series. Robyn Scheina Brown and Kelly A. Koermer
ISBN: 978-0-7355-8862-2

Assignments & Academic Calendar

We will meet every Monday evening prior to the tournament. Students will develop their legal arguments
at these sessions and hone their skills at appellate argument by scrimmaging against one another and
receiving feedback on their argument style and content.
Course Syllabus
Moot Court Spr 2011 Page 1
Grading Policy

Grading will be based on evaluation of your work effort in analyzing cases, developing arguments,
preparing oral presentations and response to analytical questioning. I will provide feedback to you over the
course of the semester on how you are doing in the course.

As long as a student is putting forth significant effort in the course, his or her grade will reflect that.

Course & Instructor Policies

I do expect that you will regularly attend the Monday night sessions. More that two unexcused absences will
result in a lower grade for poor attendance. Absent an extreme justification, I expect all students to attend the
tournament at the Texas Wesleyan University in Denton on [date yet to be determined]. The University will
pay your travel expenses and reasonable meal costs to attend the tournament.

Additional Rules and Policies

Please see http://coursebook.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies/ for information on field trip policies, student

conduct and discipline and email use.

Course Syllabus
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