Liberty University School of Law dominates national Moot Court competition

Liberty Law 3Ls Randall Shirey and Nawel Noor went undefeated at the Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition, held on Oct. 22-24 at Elon University School of Law in Greensboro, N.C. The duo bested 40 competing teams and brought the coveted championship trophy back to Liberty’s campus.

In addition to earning first place, Shirey and Noor won second-best respondent brief. Shirey was named second-place oral advocate in the preliminary rounds, and Noor won the best oral advocate distinction in the final round.

“To do it well (requires) us to put in the most excellent work we can,” Noor said. “Appellate oral advocacy is an interesting discipline where a person gets to have a long-form conversation with judges about what the law is, what it should be. It’s a privilege to be in that spot before that many judges.”

The tournament format featured two preliminary rounds to determine the top 16 teams, followed by four single-elimination rounds. Competitors argued current, unresolved constitutional questions, with teams addressing either a First Amendment vanity plate speech issue or a Fourth Amendment vehicle tracking issue.

Shirey and Noor credited professors Erik Stanley, Joseph Martins, and Liberty Law Moot Court advisor Scott Thompson, along with the broader Liberty Law faculty, with preparing and supporting the team throughout the competition. 

Shirey said competing well in national tournaments requires competitors to “not only be the most read person in the room. You also have to be able to communicate it better than everybody else.” He said Liberty Law prepares its students to do both.

“The Moot Court program is really committed to us succeeding,” said Shirey, who won first place at the 2021 American Moot Court Association National Tournament as an undergraduate student in the Helms School of Government alongside teammate David Korn. “They’re intentional about us doing well in the process but also learning in the process. We’re not only taught to compete well, but also to treat the people we’re competing against the way that we would want to be treated.”

“The environment (at Liberty Law) is very encouraging of curiosity and interest in thinking underneath the current state of the law,” Noor added. “We’re not taught one dogma we must believe about the law, but we’re given guiding principles from the Scripture.”

Noor said that Thompson’s upcoming retirement also gave the duo an additional reason to seek a tournament trophy. Thompson was instrumental in launching and strengthening Liberty Law’s Moot Court program over the past two decades.

“I think that did motivate us — that we were hoping, in his final year, we could go out with a trophy,” Noor said.

Liberty Law will send teams to competitions in Virginia Beach, Chicago, Richmond, and other locations throughout the season. Next semester, students will compete in the American Bar Association’s regional tournament, aiming for a spot in the national competition in April.

After finishing law school, Shirey will clerk for a federal judge in Washington, D.C., before returning to Virginia to practice construction litigation. Noor will return to her home estate of Tennessee to clerk for the Tennessee Supreme Court. Their accomplishments reflect Liberty Law’s commitment to preparing students for successful legal careers through rigorous classroom instruction and hands-on experiences, including extracurricular opportunities like Moot Court and other competitive teams.

With an intentional focus on experiential and skills-based learning, Liberty Law fields competition teams that allow its students to sharpen their advocacy skills through trial, moot court, client counseling, ADR, and other types of competitions. Interested students can email Law@Liberty.edu.