Moot Court and Transactional Work Forum

[Anonymous User]

So, I'm at NYU and I'm interested in doing transactional work. Our writing competition includes moot court, which I ranked I think 4th (not certain, but somewhere like that) because working on the moot court casebook seemed vaguely interesting, and few of the specialty journals are in my preferred areas.

Somehow, I ended up on moot court rather than any journal. The whole thing seems seems very odd, as my grades are very good, above top 10%--didn't expect LR, but did expect one of the other two journals I ranked above moot court. I have no ability to do any journal as a result.

Should I do moot court, or go without any "major" activity? I don't have a term-time internship or clinic, either, although I am planning to do my substantial writing credit in the fall. In interviews, how can I explain being interested in transactional work while at the same time being on the moot court board? Any and all advice appreciated.

[thesealocust]

Tons of people do moot court, clerk, journals (which are totally not about transactional law), etc. and go transactional. Amongst transactional attorneys, it's quaint and amusing that nothing in law school, especially not in the first year, is relevant to a transactional practice. Even a class like corporations is 95% about the crap litigators quabble over, and if you pick up any tidbits of transactional information it's likely going to be incidental.

So, when making your decision, don't worry about the impact it will have vel non on your chances of doing deals when you grow up.

p.s. I apologize for writing vel non.

[seriouslyinformative]

I think you can have moot court will still saying you're interested in transactional work.

That said, in my opinion, anything outside of law review doesn't give a large enough bump to make the personal sacrifice in work worth it, at least if you're interested in just getting a big firm job. This is assuming your grades are decent.

[thesealocust]

Jynx!

[Anonymous User]

Tons of people do moot court, clerk, journals (which are totally not about transactional law), etc. and go transactional. Amongst transactional attorneys, it's quaint and amusing that nothing in law school, especially not in the first year, is relevant to a transactional practice. Even a class like corporations is 95% about the crap litigators quabble over, and if you pick up any tidbits of transactional information it's likely going to be incidental.

So, when making your decision, don't worry about the impact it will have vel non on your chances of doing deals when you grow up.

p.s. I apologize for writing vel non.

Eh, I understand all of that. I just feel as if doing moot court sends off a strong "litigation" vibe that would make my response to the question "Litigation or transactions?" sound strange. Not in the sense that a journal would prepare me for transactional work. I am well aware that it would not. But, rather, in the sense that being on moot court is the automatic tag of a litigator.

If this just isn't true, then I won't worry about it.

[Anonymous User]

I think you can have moot court will still saying you're interested in transactional work.

That said, in my opinion, anything outside of law review doesn't give a large enough bump to make the personal sacrifice in work worth it, at least if you're interested in just getting a big firm job. This is assuming your grades are decent.

How would I then go about answering the question of why I am not on a journal/moot court?

[thesealocust]

Tons of people do moot court, clerk, journals (which are totally not about transactional law), etc. and go transactional. Amongst transactional attorneys, it's quaint and amusing that nothing in law school, especially not in the first year, is relevant to a transactional practice. Even a class like corporations is 95% about the crap litigators quabble over, and if you pick up any tidbits of transactional information it's likely going to be incidental.

So, when making your decision, don't worry about the impact it will have vel non on your chances of doing deals when you grow up.

p.s. I apologize for writing vel non.

Eh, I understand all of that. I just feel as if doing moot court sends off a strong "litigation" vibe that would make my response to the question "Litigation or transactions?" sound strange. Not in the sense that a journal would prepare me for transactional work. I am well aware that it would not. But, rather, in the sense that being on moot court is the automatic tag of a litigator.

If this just isn't true, then I won't worry about it.

It just isn't true, so don't worry about it

[seriouslyinformative]

I think you can have moot court will still saying you're interested in transactional work.

That said, in my opinion, anything outside of law review doesn't give a large enough bump to make the personal sacrifice in work worth it, at least if you're interested in just getting a big firm job. This is assuming your grades are decent.

How would I then go about answering the question of why I am not on a journal/moot court?

Just say you're interested in trying out some more litigation-oriented stuff (which is good, because it shows that you're flexible), but that your primary interest is transactional.