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Moot Court Competition

About the Competition

The Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court competition is named for the late Honorable Giles Sutherland Rich, Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The competition is an annual inter-law school event sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). There is no entry fee for the competition. The competition is made possible through the volunteer service of attorneys, judges, and AIPLA professionals. 

Tentative Deadlines for the 2025-2026 Competition (subject to finalization):

  • Priority deadline for submission of Notices of Intent to Compete is Friday, December 5, 2025 (11:00 pm local time).
  • All Notices of Intent to Compete are due by Friday, January 9, 2026 (11:00 pm local time).
  • Briefs for Regional Rounds are required to be served by Monday, January 26, 2026 (11:00 pm local time).
  • All Regional Rounds will be held over three days from Friday, March 13 to Sunday, March 15, 2026
  • Briefs for teams advancing to the National Rounds are required to be served by Friday, March 20, 2026 (11:00 pm local time).
  • The National Rounds will be held over three days from Wednesday, April 15 to Friday, April 17, 2026.

FOR REFERENCE - SEE THE 2024 Problem and Rules below.  Updated documents coming in Fall 2025.

Moot Court Problem (from 24-25 competition)
Moot Court Rules (from 24-25 competition)
 Appendix A - Competition Directors 2024-2025 v1.3
Appendix B--Brief Judging Form
Appendix C---Oral Argument Judging Form
Moot Court Joint Appendix (from 24-25 competition)

2024-2025 Notice of Intent to Participate

In This Section

2024-2025 Competition Recap

 

AIPLA congratulates Jillian Baggett, Alex Neuman, and coach Arti Rai of Duke University School of Law on winning the 2025 AIPLA Giles Sutherland Rich Memorial Moot Court Competition! The Final National Rounds took place from April 23-25, 2025, in Washington DC, with Judges Timothy B. Dyk, Raymond T. Chen, and Leonard P. Stark of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit presiding over the finals.
 
Second place went to Jacob Ma, Jennifer Wais, and coach James Nikraftar of University of Southern California - Gould School of Law.
 
The top prize and second place winners were recognized at a reception at the Darcy Hotel in Washington, DC
 
Thank you to National Co-Directors Christopher Jeu and Dan Wade for leading this competition, and to the AIPLA Fellows' for their support and sponsorship of the Moot Court Competition. 
 

Thank you to all of the competitors, judges, organizers, and other volunteers who made this competition such a success!