The inaugural Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition taking place March 31 through April 2, is named in honor of three former chief justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Seventeen law schools and more than 30 teams of law students will participate in the competition, which will take place annually.
The competition honors three of North Carolina’s most distinguished lawyers: Rhoda Bryan Billings, James G. Exum, Jr. and Henry E. Frye. Each has served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina and in a variety of leadership positions within the legal profession and in public life. All three justices are founding members of the Elon University Law School Advisory Board. They will also participate in the program of events for the inaugural competition.
Schools participating in the competition include:
- Appalachian School of Law
- Charleston School of Law
- Charlotte School of Law
- Chicago-Kent College of Law
- Duke University School of Law
- Florida Coastal School of Law
- George Mason University School of Law
- George Washington University School of Law
- Liberty University School of Law
- Mercer University School of Law
- Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center
- Regent University School of Law
- University of Dayton School of Law
- University of Houston Law Center
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law
- University of Virginia School of Law
- Wake Forest University School of Law
More than 30 teams of two or three law students will compete in the competition joined by faculty members and moot court program coaches from their law schools. Elon Law anticipates that the competition will bring more than 100 people from U.S. law schools to Greensboro for the competition.
Event Update (posted April 1): Due to an unavoidable conflict, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (ret.) Sandra Day O’Connor had to cancel her appearance at the moot court competition evening banquet on April 2. Justice O’Connor sent her regrets and indicated that she will make every effort to reschedule an appearance at the law school at the earliest possible date.
In Justice O’Connor’s absence, senior CNN political analyst David Gergen has agreed to deliver the keynote address at the banquet. Mr. Gergen is the chair of the Elon University School of Law Board of Advisors, former adviser to four United States presidents, professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. He held positions in the administrations of Presidents Reagan, Nixon, Ford and Clinton. A native of Durham, N.C., Mr. Gergen is an honors graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, and is a member of the Washington, D.C. bar.
O’Connor dedicated Elon University School of Law in 2006 during a special ceremony in Greensboro and returned to the school in March of 2010, delivering remarks before the student body, faculty and staff of the law school on leadership and issues facing the judicial branch in federal and state government.
Alan Woodlief, associate dean for administration, associate professor of law, and moot court program director at Elon Law, said that more than 100 distinguished judges and lawyers had volunteered to serve as judges for the competition, including The Honorable Steven M. Colloton, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and five justices of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Click here for details.
The competition will take place at the Elon University School of Law and at the Guilford County Courthouse, both in downtown Greensboro, with the Competition Awards Banquet scheduled for Saturday evening, April 2, at the O’Henry Hotel in Greensboro.
Additional details about the Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition are available at law.elon.edu/mootcourt.
The Moot Court Board at Elon Law, comprised of students who have excelled in the school’s annual intramural moot court competition, will play a key role in coordinating the inaugural Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition. Click here for a information about the Moot Court Board and Moot Court Program at Elon Law.