External Competitions

Apply to compete on a moot court team in 2025-26

Applications are due by April 23, 2025. Proposals for additional teams are subject to available funding and interest, and are due no later than August 22, 2025.

The application process is described here.

Table of contents

National and regional law school competitions—involving appellate, trial, dispute resolution, transactional, negotiation, or drafting problems—provide a great opportunity to hone professional skills and to network with other students, practitioners, and judges from around the country. 

Indiana Law has a long history of success in external competitions. Our school enthusiastically encourages students to participate, and we will support our teams with coaching, logistics, and, within the limits of our budget, funding for registration and travel.

Participating on an external competition team also requires a high level of commitment from students, because

  • We want to ensure that both our individual students and the Law School as an institution are well represented;
  • Participants are eligible for academic credit, with instructor approval (see below);
  • Fielding a team is expensive and often involves funds both from the Law School and student fundraising. A typical budget for a two- or three-person team, including entry fees and travel, is $2,000 to $4,000, depending on location.

The policies described below apply to all external competition teams that intend to compete using the Indiana University Maurer School of Law name, regardless of whether any funding is sought from or provided by the Law School, and regardless of whether participation is for academic credit.

Prof. McFadden's presentation on 2025-26 external moot court competitions

Types of events

The application process differs for the three principal types of events in which the Law School competes:

  1. Course-related and affiliated external teams;
  2. Appellate moot court competitions; and
  3. Student-initiated teams, whether or not the Law School has participated in the past.

Each year, Indiana Law sends students to a variety of competitive moot court competitions on teams associated with certain law school courses, clinics, or centers. More information about each of these is available from the sponsoring faculty. Teams for these competitions typically require course enrollment or other prerequisites. These competitions include:

  • Competitions sponsored by the Elmore Entrepreneurship Clinic
    • Transactional/Startup Law Meets
    • Venture Capital Investment Competition
  • Competitions in intellectual property law or related areas (administered by the Center for Intellectual Property Research), including
    • AIPLA Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition
    • INTA Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition
    • Oxford University International IP Law Moot
    • International Patent Drafting Competition
  • Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court
  • American Bar Association Tax Challenge

The Law School sends students to several prestigious and competitive national international tournaments. These teams are supervised and coached by Prof. Lane McFadden alongside faculty advisors who are experts in the subject-matter of the tournament. Applications are due in two stages. For the following competitions, applications were due on April 23, 2025:

To apply, send the following materials to Professor McFadden by email (lanemcfa@iu.edu): 

  • A statement of interest (this can just be an email) describing:
    • Your interest in any specific competition (if any)
    • Any courses or work experience relevant to that competition (if any)
    • Your past moot court or oral advocacy experience (including activities like debate, theater, teaching, or public speaking); and
    • Your interest in moot court more generally.
  • A current résumé

Certain moot court teams may require an interview or short audition.

Students with an interest in a particular competition not listed above may also propose and organize an external team. The Law School must review and approve these proposals in advance before students may enroll in the competition. The Law School has limited funding to support moot court teams and will prioritize allocating resources to permit as many students as possible to participate in quality competitions.

The best way to ensure the Law School’s support for your proposal is to submit a complete application (as described below) as early as possible. Applications for any competition held in the 2025-2026 school year must be submitted to Prof. McFadden (lanemcfa@iu.edu) no later than August 22, 2025. First check the registration deadline for your specific competition (usually on the competition’s website), as earlier approval may be necessary.

Your proposal must first be approved by a Law School faculty member (full-time or adjunct) who is willing to serve as team advisor. You must then notify Prof. McFadden of your intended proposal at least 30 days before the registration deadline, or by August 22, 2025, whichever comes first. All proposals will be considered in conjunction with the faculty advisor, the Business Office, and the Office of Student Affairs.

Each year, students propose a team for competition at one of the many moot court competitions around the country. The Law School supports and encourages participation in moot court competitions, but has limited funding to support student-initiated teams. The Law School has a unified application process and an early fall deadline for all proposals to ensure that resources are allocated in a way that permits as many students as possible to participate in quality competitions.

The best way to ensure the Law School’s support for your proposal is to submit a complete application (as described below) as early as possible. You should first check the registration deadline for your specific competition (usually on the competition’s website), as that date will determine all your internal deadlines for seeking Law School approval.

See a current list of nationwide appellate moot court competitions, sorted by general subject matter.