Thread by @hannnahmmarie

I'm on track to be a panelist on seven moots this semester -- so, friends, I think it's time for a moot thread.

Being a moot panelist is a big responsibility! The advocate is relying on you to anticipate the weaknesses in their arguments and help them decide how to respond. To do it well, you have to prepare (and prepare, and prepare some more).

First, I skim the briefs and look for the most important authorities the parties fight about. Do the briefs disagree about how to interpret a key statute or precedent? Are they leaning heavily on certain parts of the record? Jot those down.

Then, I go to those statutes, cases, and documents and read them myself, without relying on the briefs to interpret them for me. What do I think about them, as a matter of common sense? How do the cases fit together? What does the statutory language seem to mean?

THEN, I go back and read the briefs in detail, with the benefit of my own opinions about the underlying sources. When my BS-meter goes off (or I'm genuinely confused), I put a sticky note on that page of the brief and write down why.

Now it's outlining time. I write down each high-level issue, then summarize what each party argues about it. Once that scaffolding is set, I page back through the briefs and find those sticky notes, so I can add in my questions.

Ok, I understand the case, more or less. Now I step back -- what's the most likely reason that the advocate will lose? Zero in and brainstorm as many hard questions on it as I can. Re-read the relevant authorities, get in the weeds, have bad quotes ready. Full assassin mode.

Just having ONE hard question isn't enough. Anticipate the advocate's answer, have a follow-up, and then a follow-up to the follow-up. Judges are persistent. Moot judges need to be, too.

On the other hand, are there issues or facts that I still flat-out don't understand? I'll have questions about those, too. "Wait, hang on, just explain this to me" is a more common oral-argument question than one might think.

Finally, I'll think about the strongest parts of the advocate's case -- the things I'll encourage them to emphasize. Helping the advocate identify and work on the weaker parts is only half the battle!

The actual moot is the easy part. /fin