National Animal Law Competitions - Law School - Lewis & Clark

12th Annual National Animal Law Competitions

February 27 - March 1, 2015

Presented by the Center for Animal Law Studies in collaboration with the Animal Legal Defense Fund

Hosted by Harvard Law School

Overview

The 2015 National Animal Law Competitions were held at Harvard Law School!

NALC, is an inter-law school competition presented by the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark in collaboration with the Animal Legal Defense Fund. NALC provides law students from across the United States an opportunity to develop knowledge in the field of animal law while honing their written and oral advocacy skills. The event is comprised of three separate competitions:

  • Legislative Drafting & Lobbying Competition
  • Closing Argument Competition
  • Appellate Moot Court Competition

 

Registration

It is highly recommended to read the competition rules in full before registering. To avoid confusion and potential registration problems, please be sure to internally coordinate how those competing from your law school will handle the registration process, including payment.

Registration Links

We are using an online registration system this year. Payment can be made by check or credit card.  Those paying by credit card will be charged a 2.5% processing fee.

Registration should be completed by the individual competitor or by one team member on behalf of both in the case of the Appellate Moot Court Competition. Those submitting registration(s) on behalf of a team or individual competitor should enter the email address of the competitor or one of the team members (Team Member A) on the first registration screen. This is necessary as the email address will be automatically entered into the competitor field of the registration form. 

In instances where specific competitor information is still unknown, an interim contact from the school should be entered on this first screen. Please note, the confirmation email will be sent to that email address.

Required information on the registration form includes:

  • Law School name & mailing address
  • Competitors’ names, year in school, email address, phone number, mailing address. (Both team members’ info is needed for the Appellate Moot Court Competition. For those schools that hold internal competitions or the like, registration may be completed without specific competitor info. This information, however, must be provided as soon as possible).
  • Coaches’ names & email address
  • The name, email address and phone number for a primary contact, in case of any registration problem and/or question(s).

The competition is open to law students currently seeking a JD from any ABA-approved law school in the United States.  See competition rules for additional information.

Questions? Please contact Liberty Mulkani, lmulkani@aldf.org.

 

Problems

Appellate Moot Court Competition Problem (author - Matthew Liebman)

Team Briefs:

Closing Argument Competition Problem (author - Lora Dunn)

Legislative Drafting & Lobbying Competition Problem (author - Chris Green)

Questions? Please contact Liberty Mulkani, lmulkani@aldf.org. Do not contact the problem authors directly with questions.

 

Rules

 

Schedule

Instead of paper programs, we are using a digital event app for the competitions once again this year. The app includes the schedule, maps, judge information and other important details.

For a PDF copy of the event schedule, please click here. The schedule is subject to change, so please check back often if you plan to use a printed copy. The following outline will also provide you with the key schedule elements:

All competition rounds on Saturday and Sunday as well as the Saturday results reception will take place at Harvard Law School.

Friday, February 27, 2015

  • Meeting with Closing Argument and Legislative Drafting & Lobbying Competitors from 5:00-5:45 p.m. (coaches may attend).
  • Meeting with Appellate Moot Court Competitors from 5:45-6:30 p.m. (coaches may attend).
  • Judges’ Meeting and Reception from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

Saturday, February 28, 2015

  • Preliminary competition rounds at Harvard Law School from 8:15 a.m. – 5:20 p.m. (see event schedule for more details).
  • Results Reception at Harvard Law School from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

  • Semi-final Appellate Moot Court Competition rounds at Harvard Law School from 8:30-9:50 a.m. 
  • Final competition rounds at Harvard Law School from 10:15 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
  • Awards ceremony at Harvard Law School from approximately 2:45-3:30 p.m.

 

Venue & Lodging

Venue

All competition rounds on Saturday and Sunday, February 27-28 will take place in Wasserstein Hall at the Harvard Law School campus at 1563 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138. For directions and a map of the campus, click here.

The easiest pick-up location for taxis or reserved cars is the “Lewis Lot,” located at 1557 Massachusetts Avenue. This lot is located between Pound Hall and the Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, in front of the Lewis International Law Center building. Click here for a list of local taxi companies and their contact information.

 

Parking

For those driving to campus, parking passes should be purchased in advance as the lots tend to sell out early. You can reserve daily passes 2-weeks in advance online at this link and parking costs $7/day on evenings and weekends.

To purchase passes online, you will first need to register for an account. Choose the “visitor” option at the link above; this will take you to the registration page where you will select a username and password and enter your personal information, as requested. For “department” please choose “Harvard Law School” and use Department Code: 1006. After registering for your account, you will be emailed a confirmation link, which will bring you back to the login page where you will enter the username and password you’ve created.

The closest lots to the NALC event activities are the “SEAS” and “LITT” lots. Both are surface lots. For a detailed map of the parking lot locations, click here.

 

Lodging

We had a special rate of $199/night plus taxes for NALC competitors and coaches at the newly-renovated Sheraton Commander Hotel. Unfortunately the Sheraton has now sold out over our event dates. Please see below for other hotel options.

We have reserved a group block for NALC competitors and coaches at the Residence Inn Boston Cambridge, which is located 2 miles from Harvard Law School (15 minutes by transit). The Residence Inn is offering our group a rate of $159/night plus taxes for 1 Bedroom Suites with 1 Queen bed and a pull-out sofa bed (1 roll-away bed can be added at +$20/night for a max. occupancy of 4 people/room). The rooms boast fully-equipped kitchens, flat-screen TVs, complimentary WiFi and complimentary buffet breakfasts, as well as other amenities. To reserve a room, click on this link or call the hotel directly at (800) 331-3131 and ask for the “National Animal Law Competitions” group rate. Reservations must be made by February 6, 2015 in order to receive our rate. Valet parking is available for $40/day and parking passes are also sold at the front desk for $34/day for a garage located behind the hotel.

Another lodging option is the Irving House at Harvard, a B&B located 10 minutes by foot from Harvard Law School (0.5 miles). The property, which consists of two converted 1890s family houses, has 44-guest rooms with a variety of styles to choose from. Rates range from $145-$275/night, with some rooms accommodating up to 4 people (note: some rooms have shared restrooms). Rates include a hearty continental breakfast and afternoon snacks, complimentary WiFi and local calls, and cable TV. To reserve a room, please visit their website or phone the B&B at (617) 547-4600. You do not need to mention a group name to make a reservation; rooms are subject to availability.

Finally, we also recommend the DoubleTree Boston-Cambridge as an option. The DoubleTree is located just across the Charles River from Cambridge, and offers a free shuttle to Harvard Square at frequent intervals. Rates at the DoubleTree start at $209/night for a King Suite with an additional sofa bed. Please contact the hotel directly to reserve a room; we do not have a group block set up at this hotel.

All reservations for NALC judges will be handled by Liberty Mulkani via a rooming list. Judges, please contact Liberty with any questions.

 

Special Thanks

We would like to thank the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) for their incredible support of the National Animal Law Competitions. It is in large part the support of ALDF that makes the event possible year after year. We are grateful for our ongoing collaboration with ALDF and for the significant work individuals at ALDF put into the National Animal Law Competitions.

We would also like to thank the Shared Earth Foundation for its generous support of NALC.

Finally, this competition would not be possible without the tremendous work of the individuals who volunteered countless hours writing the competition problems and grading the team briefs and bill & fact sheets. Our sincere thanks to:

Appellate Moot Court Competition:
  • Matthew Liebman (ALDF) - Memorandum Opinion, Briefing Order and Bench Brief author
Closing Argument Competition:
  • Lora Dunn (ALDF) - problem author
Legislative Drafting & Lobbying Competition:
  • Chris Green (ALDF) - problem author