Leah Spero — Director of the California Appellate Advocacy Program at the newly renamed UC Law San Francisco — has told us about moot courts available through the Program to help practitioners prepare for their California Supreme Court arguments in civil cases.
According to a FAQs page, a moot court panel “typically includes a UC Law SF professor with subject-matter expertise and two to three experienced appellate attorneys.” Once the court sends its oral argument letter in a case, the school invites both sides of a case to participate in a moot court and the first to accept “is given the moot.” The moot courts are free, but “donations to [the Program] are strongly encouraged.”
Horvitz & Levy attorneys have recently taken advantage of the moot court program.
Other law schools also have moot court programs for attorneys. I’ve found very helpful being mooted at Loyola Law School several times. Also, the California Constitution Center at Berkeley Law sometimes does moot courts for cases with California constitutional law issues. There might be other similar California law school programs of which I’m unaware.
