Invitational Competition

the basics

The Yale Undergraduate Moot Court Invitational is a new entry in the world of undergraduate moot court. Our mission is to connect students, coaches, and practitioners in a high-quality, well organized competitive environment. In conjunction with our annual high school tournament, we hope to provide all students with the opportunity to compete in a YUMC-affiliated tournament every year from ninth grade until they graduate college.

The swiss system

Most undergraduate moot court tournaments use randomly paired preliminary rounds to rank teams for a single-elimination bracket. We appreciate that system and the conclusive, climactic final round it provides. But we often find ourselves wishing that every team was guaranteed to compete in more than three rounds, and we know that the best moot court rounds are the ones where we’re evenly matched with our opponents at whatever level we’re operating.

This is where the Swiss System comes in. After every round, we rank teams using  a hierarchy of four criteria. We then pair teams with similar rankings for the next round. Winning teams face other winning teams, losing teams face other losing teams, and after five rounds, we have a clear picture of the top teams in the field. In a tournament designed to give people the most practice, everyone is guaranteed at least five scored rounds.

To maintain the excitement of a final confrontation, after the fifth round, we put the top four teams in a single-elimination bracket to decide the tournament winner.

Click below to download a copy of the Rules for the Yale Undergraduate Moot Court Invitational.

Organized by students, powered by community

Everything about our tournament is built for moot court competitors by moot court competitors. Our student-led, student-run invitational team works to deliver a professional-quality product on everything from prompt communication to fair rules. At the center of our organizational work, we thank the American Moot Court Association for permission to use their case problem.

In classic YUMC style, we go bold for our judge recruitment. We work with everyone from law students to local practitioners to Supreme Court advocates. We work to give our judge-volunteers the case-problem grounding they need to ask tough questions and fairly score competitors’ answers. Our tournaments are organized by undergrads and made possible by a diverse and generous pool of volunteers.

registration and competition

The 2021 YUMC Invitational will run on Friday, October 29th and Saturday, October 30th, 2021. We accept up to three teams from each participating school, and we can accommodate up to twenty-four total  visiting teams. The cost to register a team is $75, and inquiries should be directed to yumc@yalemootcourt.org. We’d love to host you, and we hope that the YUMC Invitational is your team’s first step to national moot court success.