A Convincing Argument
Holmgren ’13 Brings Moot Court Competition to Hartwick
by Libby Cudmore
NICK AND KAREN WAGNER have a case before the Supreme Court — their son, Nick, doesn’t think he should have to cut his hair short to play baseball at his public high school.
On top of that, Karen argues that she should be able to sue for being struck by a foul ball at one of her son’s games.
Luckily, these fictional plaintiffs — and the fictional defendants — had some of the best lawyers on their side: the students who signed up for Hartwick’s first Moot Court Competition, hosted and sponsored by Thomas Holmgren ’13.
“Moot Court is a fixture of law schools, but they very rarely exist at the undergraduate level,” said Holmgren, a litigator at the Wilson Elser firm in New York City.
“I really wanted Hartwick students to have a practical opportunity to learn in a quasi-legal setting, where they would not only have a chance to learn a little about the law, but to learn how to think more critically and creatively, be forced to argue both sides of real legal issues and develop oral advocacy skills in the process.”
More than 60 students signed up for the competition and paired up into teams. Each team was provided with a trial court decision and an appellate court decision, then got to argue in front of panels of practicing attorneys from all over the country, including Holmgren and other Hartwick alumni.
After presenting their arguments, the judges, some of whom have litigated in front of the Supreme Court, provided students with feedback and evaluated the competitors based on their arguments, reasoning and delivery.
After the preliminary rounds, the eight highest-scoring teams advanced to a single elimination tournament, culminating with an in-person final event.
“By the end, students were learning how to employ legal reasoning, understood how to distinguish legal precedent and were making quality arguments in support of their client’s positions,” said Holmgren. “It was a new experience for most of them and they did great.”
“It was important for me to involve Hartwick’s legal alumni in this, not only because I needed the help, but so I could increase their engagement with the current Hawks,” he added. “And they loved coming back to help out students.”
Though the competition was integrated into judicial politics and constitutional law classes, taught by Assistant Professor of Political Science Matthew Chick, the competition was open to all Hartwick students.
Alumni, students and faculty members celebrate the conclusion of Hartwick’s inaugural Moot Court Competition.
“It would be impossible to overstate the impact that this level of alumni engagement has had on my students. Many of them walked away with entirely new career goals, now more directly oriented with policy and the law. And all of them took a deep appreciation for both the law and their community at Hartwick.”
Matthew Chick
Assistant Professor of Political Science
