National NALSA Moot Court Competition

OU Law Will Host National Native American Law Competition

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

NORMAN, OKLA. The University of Oklahoma College of Law will host the 31st annual National Native American Law Students Association (NNALSA) moot court competition on February 25 – 26, 2023 at the OU Law Center.
NNALSA selected OU Law’s bid in July 2022. Professors M. Alexander Pearl and Taiawagi Helton are co-authoring this year’s moot court problem, in which the teams will brief and argue.
“In partnership with Native Nations from in-state and around the country, we have long led the way in integrating Indigenous Peoples’ Law across doctrinal and experiential aspects of our program,” notes college dean Katheleen Guzman. “Given that this year marks the 200th anniversary of a foundational case for federal Indian law and policy [Johnson v. M’Intosh], as well as the 50th anniversary of our own American Indian Law Review – the first of its kind in the nation – we are especially honored that NNALSA selected OU Law to host this year, and proud of the work that our NALSA Chapter members engaged to secure this singular opportunity and will expend on running a first-rate event.”
Recognized as the premier federal Indian law moot court competition in the nation, the OU Law NALSA chapter will coordinate this year’s competition comprised of 34 teams from law schools around the country. Team registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis with a limitation of 2 teams per school.
Respectively, the University of North Dakota hosted the 29th annual competition and the University of Colorado hosted the 30th annual competition. OU Law is excited to return to an inperson format for the 31st annual competition.
“We are proud to have been chosen this year and we are excited to be able to showcase the College that hosts our incredible Indian law curriculum and the faculty that teaches our Native students. We look forward to personally meeting everyone in February,” comments OU NALSA President Reagan McGuire.
The competition website will go live in October. Stay tuned for more information.

National NALSA Moot Court Sign-Up Reminder

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Don’t miss your opportunity to be a part of the 23rd Annual NNALSA Moot Court Competition! Team registration closes on December 13, 2014. The registration form can be found on the Moot Court website at http://www.law.arizona.edu/iplp/moot_court/.

The competition will be held on March 6-7, 2015, at The University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law campus in Tucson, Arizona. Additional details can be found at http://www.law.arizona.edu/iplp/moot_court/.

2013 National NALSA Moot Court Winners

Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Congratulations to all!!!!

Here:

21st Annual National NALSA Moot Court Competition

Results:

Best Team

  1. Catherine Hall & Caycie K. Gusman (Team 10 from Hawaii)
  2. Jenny Patten & Natasha Bronn (Team 9 from Columbia)
  3. Veronica Newcomer & Rachel Kowarski (Team 33 from William Mitchell)

Highest Brief Score

  1. Zachary Dilonno & Sommerset Wong (Team 39 from Hawaii)
  2. Andrew Sangster & Jacob Wolf (Team 17 from Columbia)
  3. Anthony Franken & Steven Iverson (Team 66  from University of South Dakota)

Best Oral Advocate

  1. Catherine Hall (Hawaii)
  2. Ryan McCarthy (William Mitchell)
  3. Rachel Kowarski (William Mitchell)

And here are the teams that advanced to the elimination rounds: Continue reading →

“The Indians Won” — A Blast from the Past — And a Shout-Out to Law Students

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

At Sam Deloria’s mention, I found a copy of the long out of print 1970 novel by Martin Cruz Smith (better known for the Arkady Renko mysteries), “The Indians Win”, and read it. It’s a short read. And fun. The edition I have includes commentary from the author who states he researched Indians for a couple months, then wrote the novel in one month. Not to give away the plot (spoiler alert), but in this fictional world, the Indians win. Yeah, the ‘Nishnaabes don’t get much play — it’s all Sitting Bull and Stand Watie and Wovoka — but the Potawatomis get a few good ones in.

20130221-231921.jpg

For those not in the know about this novel, here is a quick plot summary. In 1876, rather than Custer’s Last Stand being the Indians’ last stand, all the remaining Indian tribes of the plains and the far west band together. Armed with European arms smuggled down from Canada through Dakota, the Indians win a bunch of military clashes with a post-Civil War American military that doesn’t put up much of a fight. It all ends up with … You guessed it … The Indians winning. Speculative fiction at its early 1970s best and funnest. The best part of the subplot is the 1952 declaration by the “Indian Nation” that they have bomb, but are unwilling to prove to the world they have the bomb by testing it because to do so would unnecessarily injure Mother Earth.

It reminds me of the National NALSA moot court competition. Year after year, law students gather to compete in a fictional world that could be like the one where “The Indians Win.” If you’re like me and you think of this reality as one reality in a universe of infinite parallel … universes, then why can’t the Indians win after all? How else could a dude like me marry the most beautiful and brilliant Odawa woman in the world?

In the end, I say this — have a great competition, law students. The National NALSA Moot Court Competition should be fun. Anything, absolutely anything can happen. US News rankings fly right out the window. Make friends, renew old friendships, network like crazy, and crush your opposition with an iron boot.

National NALSA Moot Court Competition Needs Judges!

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

National NALSA Moot Court Competition

Lewis & Clark Law School is hosting the National NALSA Moot Court Competition (http://nationalnalsa.org/events/mootcourt/)(http://law.lclark.edu/student_groups/nalsa/moot_court/) this spring and we are in need of volunteers to be “judges” during the competition.

The competition is designed to simulate the practice of law. The annual event requires competing law students, in 2-person teams, to conduct research and write legal briefs, without assistance from professors or others, and argue against other student teams at the competition. The National NALSA Moot Court Competition is the largest National Moot Court Competition that focuses on Native American issues. This year, we have 60 teams competing from 24 law schools.

Professor Robert Miller is the competition problem writer and our development team is working hard to organize a successful National NALSA Moot Court Competition. The competition problem can be found here.  You can also register for the competition on our website.

Being a judge will not require a specialty in Federal Indian law. The basic skills of oral advocacy is what will be judged and the Moot Court development team will provide all judges will a bench memo that provide the problem, issues, and potential arguments of the competition along with an orientation the night before the Friday competition day.

The competition rounds will be held on February 22-23, 2013 and will require close to 200 judges to execute. There are three rounds of competitions to determine which teams will advance to the final rounds on Saturday.

Hosting this event necessitates assistance from our legal community and we need your help! We need judges on the first day of the competition:  Friday, February 22, 2013.

If you are interested in judging during the competition, please just click here and fill out this form.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact nalsa@lclark.edu.  Good luck and we look forward to seeing you in February!