By Laws and Rules

As Amended and Adopted April 2012

I. Description and Purpose:

A. The Rutgers Moot Court Board (hereinafter "the Board") is an autonomous student-run organization dedicated to promoting superior advocacy skills. The Board sponsors and coordinates various competitions including the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition and the David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competition.

B. The Board's duties include developing competition problems and administering the mock trial and appellate advocacy competitions. In addition, the Board endeavors to field teams representing Rutgers School of Law-Newark in regional and national mock trial and other moot court competitions. The Board encourages school-wide student participation in the Moot Court Board and its programs.

II. Structure of the Board

A. Co-Chairs: The Board shall have two Co-Chairs. The Co-Chairs shall be responsible for: coordinating the Board's activities; scheduling Board meetings; drafting the Board's calendar; delegating academic, administrative, and other tasks; acting as liaisons between the Board and the Law School faculty and administration; and recommending academic credit for Board Members. In addition, the Co-Chairs shall oversee disciplinary matters.

B. Board Officers: The Board shall also have a Secretary, Treasurer, Alumni Liaison, Outside Competition Coordinator, and Webmaster.

1. Secretary: The Secretary’s duties shall include calculating and compiling the data to determine to whom membership shall be offered, calculating the scores for both the Cohn and Baker competitions, and organizing the grading of LRW oral arguments, both for day students in the spring and for night students in the spring. The Secretary’s duties may be expanded or limited at the discretion of the Co-Chairs.

2. Treasurer: The Treasurer’s duties shall include keeping track of the finances of the Board, establishing a budget for each semester with the Co-Chairs, ensuring that vendors are paid, and filling out and submitting all reimbursement vouchers. The Treasurer’s duties may be expanded or limited at the discretion of the Co-Chairs

3. Alumni Liaison: The Alumni Liaison’s duties shall include soliciting and scheduling judges for both intramural competitions. The Alumni Liaison’s duties may be expanded or limited at the discretion of the Co-Chairs.

4. Outside Competition Coordinator: The Outside Competition Coordinator’s duties shall include announcing to the general student body opportunities for extramural competition, soliciting applications, selecting participants (in collaboration with the Co-Chairs), and facilitating student participation in each competition. The Outside Competition Chairperson’s duties may be expanded or limited at the discretion of the Co-Chairs.

5. Webmaster: The Webmaster’s duties shall include maintaining the Moot Court Board website and attending to any technology-related issues. The Webmaster’s duties may be expanded or limited at the discretion of the Co-Chairs.

C. General Membership: The General Membership shall be comprised of those persons, both second- and third-year day students and night-student equivalents, who are not serving as either the Co-Chairs or Officers of the Board. All General Members must participate in at least one competition, either the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition or the David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competition. They shall also be responsible for completing all academic and administrative tasks assigned by the Co-Chairs. All Board members must be active on the Board for at least three semesters. The 3L/4LE credit requirement may be fulfilled through active board membership for at least 1 semester or participation in an outside competition, including national team competitions, or participation in the Baker Competition during 3L/4LE fall.

D. Membership on the Board, unless terminated otherwise, shall be considered to terminate on the first reading day of the Spring semester after which the respective member is to graduate.

III. Selection of the Board

A. General Membership: The General Membership of the Board shall be selected each summer from among those incoming second-year day students and evening student equivalents demonstrating high achievement in written and oral advocacy skills. The General Members shall be selected after their Legal Research and Writing oral arguments and shall be notified before the start of Fall classes. Board members shall be selected from second-year day students and the equivalent night students, and only such students will be permitted to compete for open positions on the Board. The Board will, wherever possible, notify those students selected to be General Members before the due date of resumes for on-campus interviews. All students selected as General Members shall be notified in time to register for the Board in order to receive academic credit. In addition, the semi-finalists and/or finalists from the Nathan Baker Mock Trial and/or David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competitions shall be considered for Board membership and may be invited to be members at the sole discretion of the Co-Chairs.

1. Selection Criteria: Board members shall be selected based upon their Legal Research & Writing appellate brief, as graded by their Legal Research & Writing Professors, and upon their Legal Research & Writing oral argument, as graded by Board Members, in the following proportion:
Appellate Brief: 40%
Oral Argument: 60%

B. Election of Officers: The Co-Chairs and all Officers shall have participated on the Board for one semester prior to their nomination. They shall be chosen in the following manner:

1. Any Member can nominate any other Member, including him or herself, for any Officer position during the period for nomination designated by the Co-Chairs and shall have the right to withdraw his or her name from nomination.

2. Elections shall be held in the Spring semester after the David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competition.

3. Elections of board members shall be completed as follows: 2L/3LEs will vote individually, the current board shall have votes equal to 1/2 of the number of votes that the 2L/3LE class has (rounding down in the event of an odd number). Each board member shall cast an individual vote weighted proportionally to their share of the 1/2 weighted vote. Current board members shall vote after the completion of the 2L/3LE vote, knowing the outcome. In the event of a tie, the Co-Chairs shall break the tie.

4. All Board Members eligible to vote shall be notified of the nominations in writing prior to elections.

5. In the event of scheduling conflicts, and at the discretion of the Co-Chairs, Members may be permitted to vote by proxy.

6. All Board Members shall vote for two Co-Chairs and other Officers.

7. The outgoing Co-Chairs shall oversee the election. They will count the ballots and will announce the incoming Co-Chairs and other Officers as soon after the elections as is practicable.

8. The incoming Co-Chairs and other Board Officers shall take office on the first reading day of the Spring semester in which they are elected.

9. Co-Chairs and other Board Officers shall serve in their office for a period of one year.

IV. Academic Credit

A. Each second-year Board Member or evening student equivalent may earn one credit per semester for participation on the Board. Each third-year Board member or evening student equivalent may earn up to three credits per academic year; the distribution of credits between semesters shall be determined by the Board member, Co-Chairs, and the Rutgers Law School administration.

B. In order to obtain academic credit, each second-year day student Board or evening student equivalent member must participate in one of the following tracks with obligations outlined accordingly:

Track 1	Fall: Compete in the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition
	Spring: Participate in preparing the David Cohn Appellate Competition.

Track 2	Fall: Participate in preparing the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition.
	Spring: Compete in the David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competition

C. In addition to the academic requirement, each second year day student Board member or evening student equivalent Board member will be required to perform a variety of administrative and academic duties. These duties include but are not limited to: remaining in the Moot Court Board office to answer phone calls and e-mails, grading competition briefs, serving as bailiff for the Nathan Baker or David Cohn Competitions, assisting with the grading of LRW oral arguments of students seeking membership on the Board, assisting with the drafting of the competition in which the member is not participating, and such other duties as may be necessary for the proper discharge of all Board responsibilities. The Co-Chairs shall have the right to withhold academic credit from any Member whom the Co-Chairs determine has not fulfilled his or her duties. To facilitate completion of these tasks, each semester all second year day student Board member or evening student equivalent Board member will be assigned to participate on one of the following committees:

1. Competition Problem Committee: This Committee is responsible for the drafting of the intramural competition materials taking place in a particular semester. No Board member assigned to this Committee may participate in the corresponding competition. The Co-Chairs shall directly oversee this Committee.

2. Outside Competition Committee: This Committee is responsible for all tasks related to the Board’s facilitation of students’ participation in extramural competitions. The Outside Competition Coordinator shall directly oversee this Committee.

3. Correspondence Committee: This Committee is responsible for all communication, electronic or telephonic, in the manner directed by the Co-Chairs. The Co-Chairs shall directly oversee this Committee.

4. Judge Assignment Committee: This Committee is responsible for soliciting and scheduling judges for the two intramural competitions. The Alumni Liaison shall directly oversee this Committee.

5. Fundraising Committee: This Committee is responsible for seeking and developing additional streams of funding for the Board as well as determining and planning new programs to utilize that funding. The Treasurer shall directly oversee this Committee.

6. Special Events Committee: This Committee is responsible for planning, advertising, and administering all events hosted by the Moot Court Board. The Co-Chairs shall directly oversee this Committee.

The Co-chairs have discretion to limit or expand the duties of any of the above committees as well as to introduce new committees.

D. Members wishing to compete in both the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition and the David Cohn Appellate Advocacy Competition must obtain written permission from the Co-Chairs.

VI. Disciplinary Matters

A. The Moot Court Board is an autonomous organization that reserves the right to handle any disciplinary matters that arise in relation to the Board's competitions and other activities.

B. All disciplinary matters arising from Board activities shall be handled by the Co-Chairs and such Board Officers as may be appointed by the Co-Chairs.

C. At anytime, a Co-Chair or other Board Officer may be impeached and removed, for improper activity or seriously inadequate performance of duties as a Co-Chair or other Officer of the Moot Court Board.

1. Impeachment and removal of a Co-Chair or other Officer shall be commenced by the submission to at least one Co-Chair of a petition signed by either half the Officers or half of the General Membership. The impeachment petition must state the Officers’ or Members’ basis for seeking removal of the Officer named therein.

2. Within two weeks of submission of the impeachment petition, the Board must hold a meeting in Rutgers School of Law-Newark to conduct the removal vote on the impeached Officer. This meeting shall require a two-thirds quorum of the Board. The removal vote shall be conducted by secret ballot and a two-thirds majority of the Members and Officers present shall be sufficient for removing the impeached Officer.

3. In the event that an Officer resigns or is removed from office under the procedures described in these By-laws and Rules, the Co-Chair(s) shall within two weeks arrange and conduct an election pursuant to the procedures described in Article III, Section B.

D. All Members of the Moot Court Board are bound by the Honor Code and the Rutgers University Student Disciplinary Code of the Law School as provided in the Student Handbook (hereinafter "the Codes"). All Board Members are required to perform all designated and assigned tasks and responsibilities. Inactive Board membership shall not be tolerated. Any member who fails or refuses to fulfill his or her duties, or who is found to have violated the Codes, may be denied academic credit. Decisions to deny credit shall be made by the Co-Chairs. Any member who is to be denied credit shall be notified in writing and permitted to dispute the proposed denial.

E. All persons who participate in Board-sponsored competitions shall be required to conduct themselves in accordance with the Codes and any other applicable standards of professional conduct. All competitors shall be notified in writing of this requirement, as part of the competition materials, before they compete. In addition, competition materials shall set forth the procedures for complaints, investigations, and penalties. The Co-Chairs shall establish such procedures. In the event that competition rules are to be changed from those of the previous year, the Co-Chairs shall consult with the faculty advisor, but shall not be bound by the advice of the faculty advisor.

VII. Amending These By-Laws

A. The Co-Chairs may, at any time, call a meeting of the Board to discuss and/or vote on any proposed amendments to these by-laws. A two-thirds majority of all Board Members (second- and third-year day students and evening student equivalents), voting either in person or by electronic means, shall be sufficient to amend these by-laws.

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