Saul Lefkowitz Moot Court Competition

To enter, students are expected to:

• Write a brief reflecting the issues in the Fact Pattern/Problem.
• Argue the case in regional competitions before a panel of volunteer attorneys and judges from various district and other courts, and two winning teams from each region argue the case in a national competition before members of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Historically, the Regional Competition has taken place in February in various U.S. cities: Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; and San Francisco, California. Then, two teams from each of the regional competitions advance to the National Finals in Washington, D.C. in March.

Saul Lefkowitz (1919–1990) began his career as part of the great post–World War II class of trademark examiners who were recruited to examine applications being filed under the newly enacted Lanham Act.

After rising through the ranks, in 1958, he began serving on the newly created Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) and served continuously for 23 years, including the last six (1975–1981) as Chairman. From the very beginning of his tenure, he was recognized as the intellectual leader of the TTAB, with his decisions immediately recognizable by their length and thoroughness.

Mr. Lefkowitz’s contributions to the development of trademark law and the education of the trademark bar extended far beyond his published TTAB opinions. A bibliography of his articles in The Trademark Reporter would exceed a dozen titles. After retiring from the TTAB in 1981, he joined Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP, as of counsel, a position he held until his death. In private practice, he served as a brilliant expert and consultant to practitioners around the world.

Yes. Team members must be matriculated in a full- or part-time Juris Doctor (J.D.) program in the law school they represent. Proof of current registration in law school for each team member must be attached to the team’s online entry form. Proof of registration may include a student ID card or a letter from the registrar’s office. Allowed files types are jpg, gif, png, pdf with a maximum file size of 2MB. No team member may hold a law degree from a law school in the United States. Please refer to the Official Rules for more information.

No. An LL.M student who has obtained his/her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree may not enter the competition. However, if a student is pursuing a joint J.D./LL.M program, he/she may enter the competition.

Each school may enter up to two teams. The competition is open to teams of law school students from any U.S. law school so long as graduation from such school renders its students eligible for admission to a state bar in the United States. Teams may consist of two to four students from the same school.

We must receive the team’s completed entry form within one month from the time we began accepting applications. (2020-2021 date to be determined)

After submitting the entry form, a team may replace team members up until the filing of briefs on January 4, 2021, 5:00 pm ET. After this date, the team must receive consent from the Lefkowitz Committee by emailing [email protected] in order to replace team members.

A team replacing any team members must submit proof of matriculation for the new members.

There is no registration fee to enter the Competition but teams are responsible for their own travel expenses to the Regional Competition. We will reimburse those teams that advance to the National Finals for their reasonable hotel and transportation expenses for attending the Finals, up to a maximum of $1,000 per team.

All receipts for travel and/or hotel expenses must be submitted to us no later than March 21, 2021. After this date, we will not consider travel expenses for reimbursement and the team (or law school) will be responsible. Please note that we will not reimburse transportation and/or hotel expenses if either are purchased using frequent flier miles or reward points.

Each team is randomly assigned one side to brief; the team will then brief all issues from that side’s perspective. For oral arguments, each team will argue both sides.

No. Briefs cannot be emailed, mailed, or hand delivered to us. Each team shall file its brief as a PDF file by uploading it online. We must receive the brief no later than January 4, 2021, 5:00 pm ET. Briefs received after this date may not be considered.

Briefs are not returned to the teams after the Competition. Please refer to the Official Rules for more information.

We do not share past winning briefs.

No. Each team must designate two team members to argue during oral arguments at the Regional and National Competitions.

Team members, coaches, faculty advisors, or any other person affiliated with the team are permitted to attend only those arguments in which that team is participating. Please refer to the Official Rules for more information.

We do not release individual and team scores. After the National Finals, we will notify each team by email of its oral argument, brief, and overall rankings in its region and nationwide. We will post Regional and National Finals winners, along with names of all participating schools, on our website.