Seventeenth Annual National Pretrial Competition
The 2024 National Pretrial Competition will take place on October 3-6, 2024. This year’s packet is a criminal case alleging attempted murder. There will be a pretrial “Stand Your Ground” hearing on whether the defendant has the right to claim self-defense at trial. We will accept 16 teams and each team is guaranteed 4 rounds (the fourth preliminary round will be a silent quarterfinal). Each team will:
- Write two memoranda of law (one for each side of the case) that are scored;
- Give an opening statement to the court on what the case is about and what evidence will be presented;
- Direct and cross-examine four witnesses (two for each side); and
- Make a closing argument to the court based on the evidence presented in the hearing and the law cited in the memoranda.
The application deadline is July 1, 2024. For all schools selected, the non-refundable registration fee is $850.
- The problem will be released on August 1, 2024;
- The memos of law are due September 1, 2024; and
- The evidentiary hearing will take place on October 3-6, 2024, in the new Advocacy Institute at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, FL.
Federal and state courts across the country use pretrial hearings to determine what evidence will be admitted, and which witnesses will be permitted, at trial. The combination of case backlogs from Covid and the abundance of technological evidence now available in every case means that now more than ever our students need to develop skills to properly research, analyze, and litigate important, case-dispositive, pretrial matters in an evidentiary hearing almost identical to that of a full trial!
Please email [email protected] with any questions.