In one of the most anticipated events of the year, contestants stand in the Ames Courtroom before an illustrious panel of distinguished jurists to demonstrate their skills in oral argument. As it has since 1911, the competition draws standing–room–only crowds as two 3L teams argue before the judges. A justice of the U.S. Supreme Court is usually a member of the three-judge panel. Making the final round is one of the school’s greatest honors. Winners have been memorialized on bronze plaques in the Langdell Hall reading room.
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“I learned that you have to prepare the brief as a kind of science of the case and do the oral argument as a kind of art.”
Kathleen M. Sullivan ’81
Best Oralist, Ames Moot Court Competition, 1980
From Harvard Law Today
How the Ames Process Works

Helping Students through the Ames Process
The Board of Student Advisers (BSA) is an organization of upper-level students who serve as administrators of the Ames Moot Court Competition. The BSA’s mission is to build a community among first-year students and among the diverse student body of Harvard Law School.