League Policies
Best Practices
- Exhibit utmost integrity and professionalism through both appearance and presentation.
- Respond appropriately and respectfully to a judge’s inquiries.
- Answer a judge’s questions immediately rather than saying, “I will address that later.”
- Refrain from speaking over a judge. When the judge is speaking, advocates should stop speaking and listen professionally and respectfully.
- Do not ask judges for a score or for the results of their decision.
Suggestions
- Know the material well.
- Identify the issues and determine which team member will primarily cover each issue.
- Prepare approximately 10 minutes of material beforehand for each legal issue but be prepared to respond to both questions from the judges and remarks made by opponents. Prepare to be flexible!
- Prepare a roadmap or outline of how to present all relevant material. This will help with focus when moving between answering questions and presenting the planned case.
- Practice presenting the case with someone interrupting to ask questions.
- When arguing as the Petitioner, be sure to decide how much time to reserve for rebuttal before the round begins.
- Listen carefully to both the judges and your opponent, so that you can facilitate a respectful conversation with the judge panel.