overview

Mississippi College School of Law's Moot Court Board is nationally recognized team composed of students who seek to improve both their writing and oral advocacy skills.

Board members are selected each fall through a try-out competition. Second year students are invited to participate in the competition after submitting a brief for the mandatory appellate advocacy class. Through the Copeland, Cook, Taylor, and Bush internal competition, each student presents an oral argument on the issues addressed in the brief to a panel of local judges, attorneys, and faculty members. New Board members are selected based on the combination of their brief score and oral argument score.

Once on the Board, members compete in competitions that take place throughout the year and throughout the United States. Our Board competes in national Moot Court, Trial, and ADR competitions.

about the director

Vicki Lowery is the faculty advisor for the Moot Court Board and coaches MCSOL’s external competition teams.  “Coaching the competition teams reminds me what I loved the most about practicing law,” Lowery says.  “The cases and clients may be hypothetical, but the challenges and rewards are very real.”
 
She is a 1998 cum laude graduate of MCSOL, and previously a litigator with Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz.  In her spare time, Lowery enjoys reading, although she’s usually immersed not in the latest murder mystery, but in an appellate brief. 

“This is more than a job; it’s something that I’m emotionally invested in,” Lowery says.  “Sometimes at a competition, the students will tell me they’re nervous, and my answer is always, ‘I’m nervous too.’  I’m like the football coach on the sidelines at the big game.  Going up against larger law schools with deeper staff and bigger endowments can be intimidating, but I’m proud to say that no matter who the competitor is, our MCSOL team is always a serious contender.”