Virginia Lawyers Weekly

It is common knowledge that law schools attract competitive people. Some of the most competitive law students take part in moot court or trial competitions that pit teams from different law schools against each other. Now, an upstart Web site that attempts to rank the various law school advocacy programs is starting to attract attention.

The new ranking system attempts to quantify law school programs in what amounts to a “bowl system” for legal scholars.

Reaction varies. While one Virginia law school is promoting its listing on “Law School Advocacy,” the new Web site run by former moot court participant Brian Koppen, team leaders at another Virginia law school were not even aware of the rankings.

Many law schools field moot court teams that compete in national and regional tournaments designed to test the students’ skills on handling appeals. Points are awarded for both written briefs and oral argument before panels of judges. Some law schools also sponsor trial advocacy teams that engage in mock trials with live witnesses.

Until recently, participating law schools could trumpet their awards in this or that advocacy competition, but there was no recognized ranking system for advocacy programs. Into that void stepped Koppen, who calls himself “The Ranker.”

Koppen, a Chicago lawyer and 2007 graduate of Chicago-Kent College of Law, developed a methodology of ranking moot court and trial advocacy programs and published the results on his Web site, “Law School Advocacy” (www.lawschooladvocacy.com).

The ranking site caught the attention of the established “TaxProf Blog” published by Prof. Paul L. Caron at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. Last month, Caron posted the rankings as they stood at the time.

With Caron’s recognition adding some cachet to Koppen’s work, the University of Richmond law school put out a news release boasting of the 16th place ranking of its trial advocacy program: “Among the Richmond [trial advocacy] accomplishments, one team recently won the American Association for Justice’s 2008 Regional Student Trial Advocacy Competition in Washington, D.C., while another team finished fourth among 225 teams from across the nation in a competition in Florida.”

Koppen’s rankings also were welcomed at Regent University, where this year’s Regent moot court program is ranked 9th on Koppen’s list. Faculty advisor Prof. Michael Hernandez has few quibbles with Koppen’s rankings. “I think that the rankings are a fairly good quantification of where these schools are,” Hernandez said. “Overall, it provides a pretty good snapshot.”

Regent is not shy about promotion of its law school’s intramural success. Last year, the school rented billboards to boast of the achievements of its moot court program.

There is no publicity machine promoting law school competition rankings at the University of Virginia. “We’re probably more low-key about it,” said Daniel Burgess, president of U.Va.’s trial advocacy board.

The U.Va. trial advocacy program was tied for 32nd place in Koppen’s rankings, but the student leaders of the moot court and trial advocacy teams were not even aware of Koppen’s Web site until they were contacted for this story.

So, how authoritative are Koppen’s rankings?

Not so much, maintains one old hand in the moot court field. Prof. Robert T. Sherwin advises advocacy teams at Texas Tech University’s law school and publishes his own blog, “The Bench Brief.” In a lengthy essay, he took Koppen to task for relying exclusively on team results in national competitions, among other criticisms.

Sherwin also noted Koppen’s inexperience: “[T]he self-proclaimed ‘ranker’ is not a professor, nor a judge, nor a well-practiced attorney, nor a long-time observer of law school advocacy competitions.”

Robert DeRise, a U.Va. 3L who is “Chief Justice” of the school’s moot court board, agrees with Sherwin’s criticisms of the rankings. He notes that the Koppen rankings do not take into account regional and invitational competitions, or honors such as a “best oralist” award.

“As of right now, it’s a very rough measure, indeed,” DeRise said.

Prof. John Paul Jones, who advises the University of Richmond’s moot court program, is not so quick to condemn the fledgling ranking system:

“Unlike Sherwin, I am not put off by Koppen’s credentials, or alleged lack thereof. As long as he can perform simple mathematical calculations, he might as well be a journalist,” Jones wrote in an e-mail.

Jones also questioned Sherwin’s complaint that not moot court competitions carry the same degree of “distinction”:

“Sherwin’s confusion of quality with prestige weakens his criticism on this point. That some competitions are better than others begs the question of what is good about a competition. In my view, prestige helps to make a competition good, but it is only one factor among several, all of which are hard to quantify. Is the best golfer in the world a better sportsman or athlete than the best bowler or skeet shooter?”

Prof. Margaret Bacigal, advisor to the University of Richmond trial advocacy program, found no great surprise in the results of Koppen’s calculations. “I can say that I recognize quite a few of the top schools as ones that are known to have successful trial advocacy programs and are well known as top competitors,” Bacigal said.

Jones hailed the commencement of a rankings debate. “Let a thousand flowers bloom; anybody who wants to produce a rival moot-court program ranking may write his own formula and compete with Koppen. Right now, I am not aware of any competing ranking system,” wrote Jones.

Expect that situation to change, says Hernandez at Regent University’s moot court program: “My prediction is you’ll see a lot more ranking systems. I think that others are seriously considering ways to do it better.”

Virginia law schools that placed in the running tally of moot court programs ranked by “Law School Advocacy”

9th place
Regent University law school

29th place
William & Mary law school

40th place
George Mason University law school

59th place (tie)
Appalachian School of Law

In the trial advocacy rankings:

16th place
University of Richmond law school

32nd place (tie)
University of Virginia law school

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