The Office of Legal Writing and Moot Court Programs oversees the Writing Center, the First-Year Legal Practice Workshop, LLM Legal Research and Writing, and internal and external moot court competitions, including the First-Year Moot Court and the Harlan Fiske Stone Moot Court Competition.
Learn more about our program offerings.
Students learn how to conduct legal research and analysis and communicate effectively by participating in guided simulations and exercises. This course is required for all J.D. students in their first year of law school.
LL.M. students learn to read and analyze U.S. case law, and they develop effective research and writing skills, which they apply when engaging with the U.S. common-law system. This course is required for all LL.M. students who wish to sit for the New York bar exam and are not exempt.
The Columbia Law School Writing Center holds writing workshops each semester, offers 1:1 appointments for students who wish to meet individually for writing support, and provides other writing resources.
Every 1L at Columbia Law School participates in an internal or external moot court in the spring. Upper-year students may continue to participate in moot court through the Stone Moot Court, through an external competition, or by taking on a leadership role as an editor or coach in the Moot Court Program, or as a member of the Moot Court Executive Board.