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May 16, 2008

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2007 Prince Competition

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2007 Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition
March 29-31, 2007

The 22nd Annual Prince Evidence Competition was held at Brooklyn Law School on Thursday, March 29, 2007, with the final round on Saturday evening, March 31, 2007. The University of California, Hastings College of the Law Team won the competition. The Hofstra University School of Law Team finished second. View photos.

The Prince Memorial Evidence Competition honors the late Jerome Prince, renowned evidence scholar and author of Prince on Evidence, who served as Dean of Brooklyn Law School from 1953-1971.

In 2007, thirty-eight law schools from across the United States argued issues at the forefront of evidentiary law. In the final round, the University of California, Hastings College of law defeated Hofstra University School of Law. Last year’s finalists argued in front of a distinguished bench, which included the Honorable Peter W. Hall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Charles R. Wilson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The Winners:
Score Sheets*

The Case:
Full Version*

Clarifications*

Briefs

The Interrogation:
View Video

Registration Form*

Competition Rules*

Event Schedule*

Hotel Information*

* Acrobat Reader required;
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The three main questions competitors will address in the fictitious United States v. Rounn Har are: 1) Did the District Court properly perform its Daubert gate-keeping function in determining that defense expert's testimony concerning false confessions and the factors that contribute to their falsity was neither reliable nor helpful to the jury? 2) At trial, when a defendant challenges the truthfulness of his confession, is the District Court required in its instructions to make the jury aware that, at times, people confess falsely to crimes, including murder? 3) Was the Confrontation Clause violated by a prosecution psychiatric expert’s testimony describing the substance of statements she elicited from defendant’s mother and sister in preparing for trial, even though the District Court instructed the jury to consider those statements only to assess the thoroughness of the expert’s opinion but not for the truth of any facts contained in them?

Brooklyn Law School is proud to continue our tradition of attracting distinguished judges to preside over this year’s competition. The final round argument will be before the Honorable Peter W. Hall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Honorable Charles R. Wilson of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Past judges have included representatives from all of the appeals circuits and even a Supreme Court justice.

For more information about the Jerome Prince Memorial Evidence Competition, please contact the 2008 competition coordinator, Ashley Caudill at (718) 780-7970 or ashley.caudill@brooklaw.edu.

Read about last year’s 2006 Prince Competition.

This page last modified on: December 20, 2007.