Hone your legal skills through student organizations that feature scholarship and competition at the highest levels.
Ohio Northern University Law Review
Our highly-respected law journal is edited and published by law students who have earned membership to the journal. The Law Review is published three times a year and consists of leading articles on current legal issues authored by prominent scholars, law professors, judges and practitioners; student comments on recent legislation and cases; and selected symposia presentations on varied legal topics. Our subscribers span the U.S. and multiple countries. Membership in the Law Review has traditionally been one of the highest honors awarded to students in the College of Law.-
There are two ways to become a staff editor. First, the 10 first-year students who are ranked at the top of the class, based upon their cumulative GPA at the end of the spring semester of their first year, will receive an invitation to become members of the Law Review. Second, all first-year students in the top 50 percent of the class, based on their cumulative GPA at the end of the second semester, will be invited to participate in an anonymous Write-On Competition. The individuals with the top entries will be invited to join Law Review, also contingent upon the successful completion of a Casenote of publishable quality.
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The subscription price is $25 per volume (three issues annually); single issues $8.50 per copy. Subscriptions are renewed automatically upon expiration unless the subscriber sends timely notice of termination. To subscribe, please email Tasha Miller, t-miller.19@onu.edu or call our office at 419.772.2248. Checks should be made payable to account number 110-4020-85302-110, ONU Law Review, and mailed to: Ohio Northern University Law Review, The Claude W. Pettit College of Law, 525 South Main Street, Ada, OH 45810.
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The ONU Law Review is currently accepting submissions. Submissions can be made via Expresso and Scholastica. You may also send a printed manuscript, along with a cover letter and your CV, to: Ohio Northern University Law Review, The Claude W. Pettit College of Law, 525 South Main Street, Ada, OH 45810. You may also send submissions directly to the Law Review Administrator by email, t-miller.19@onu.edu.
“I participated in the Ethics Symposium at ONU, and had the good fortune to work with the Law Review editors. The entire experience was a pleasure. I was impressed that the Review focuses on issues of real concern to the profession and does so in a congenial environment.”Michael Tigar, Professor Emeritus of the Practice of Law, Duke Law School
ONU Law Review Symposium
The ONU Law Reviews hosts a day-long symposium on campus every year that features renowned legal scholars from across the United States. The symposium gives ONU law students and alumni as well as local practicing attorneys the opportunity to learn from leading experts on relevant legal issues.
Moot Court: Compete with the Best
Competition is woven into the fabric at ONU Law, starting your first year. Through Moot Court, you’ll refine your oral advocacy, trial and brief writing skills through participation in prominent appellate and trial advocacy competitions both regionally and nationally. Our Moot Court Program, which dates back to the 1950s, enjoys a long and storied tradition of excellence. Check out the intra-school and inter-school competitions we compete in below.ONU Law Competitions
Your competition experience begins right here on campus where we feature four competitions annually. Our alumni give generously of their time and money, endowing competitions, underwriting scholarships and judging. It’s the ONU Law way.
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Named in honor of a former dean of ONU Law, this competition is part of the first-year Legal Research and Writing course. Each first-year ONU law student is required to participate in this oral advocacy competition; however, only those selected to move on may continue to compete.
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One of two annual appellate advocacy competitions at ONU Law, this is the only one available to upperclassman advocates. The competition invites all second- and third-year ONU law students to compete for awards and cash prizes by displaying their advocacy skills. The competition is sponsored by the family of the Honorable Anthony J. Celebrezze, former mayor of Cleveland; Secretary of Health, Education and Wellness under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; and Circuit Justice of the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The winning student receives $500, runner up $250, and third and fourth finishers receive $125 each.
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Teams of two law students practice and develop their trial advocacy skills while competing for cash prizes in a courtroom environment. Open to second- and third-year students, this competition is historically sponsored by the Honorable Burke E. Smith, and introduces students to the complexity, challenges and opportunities found during trial.
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Open to all ONU Law students, this competition gives students a chance to showcase their oral advocacy skills through presentation of a closing argument in a complex criminal case. Parag Shah, a distinguished graduate of ONU Law, is a personal injury lawyer and criminal defense attorney in Atlanta, where he is the founding partner of the Shaw Law Firm.
Regional and National Competitions
ONU Law students who excel in our intra-school competitions are invited to participate in teams that compete in regional and national competitions against top-notch law students from across the country.
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This national competition is sponsored by the American Bar Association and focuses on a different area of law every year. ONU competes regionally against other schools for an opportunity to advance to the Nationals. The regional competition consists of three qualifying rounds with each team arguing at least once on behalf of the respondent and once on behalf of the petitioner. The regional competitions take place in cities like St. Louis, Boston or Washington D.C. and feature between 36 to 42 schools. The top 16 teams advance to the semi-final round, with the winners advancing to the final round. The winning four teams advance to nationals. In the recent past, ONU won the Washington D.C. regional for the first time in the school’s history, and made it to the Boston Regional semi-finals, winning an award for best advocate and award for third-best brief.
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This competition is held annually at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, N.J. The competition hosts 40 teams from around the country over the course of two days, with issues generally focused on timely matters of criminal procedure and/or criminal law. Competitors are called on to argue on constitutionality and interpretation of federal and state criminal statutes as well as general doctrinal issues of federal and state criminal law. ONU Law traditionally enjoys remarkable success at this competition, often placing in the sweet 16 and bringing home multiple honors.
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This competition is internationally known and is the only one that enjoys participation by nearly every law school in the United States and abroad. In fact, it enjoys recognition as the world’s largest moot court competition, with participants from more than 550 law schools in more than 80 countries. The arguments are presented as if before the International Court of Justice, the judicial structure of the United Nations (as opposed to a court of the United States). Additionally, the problem is written by a leading scholar on a topic of timely and global significance. For the past few years, our teams have been highly competitive in this competition. We traditionally participate in the Chicago competition.
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Named for the late Hon. Giles Sutherland Rich, circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, this competition consists of regional meets in various cities (Boston, Chicago, Houston, Silicon Valley and Atlanta) and a national final meet in Washington D.C.
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Sixteen teams from all over the nation are assigned to one of 14 regional competitions. The top team from each region then advances to the national finals. The STAC problems are always civil cases and tend to deal with issues such as product liability, personal injury or medical malpractice/negligence issues. Teams are judged on their skills in case preparation, opening statements, use of facts, the examination of lay and expert witnesses, and closing arguments. The AAJ team is the only trial-level moot court competition team at ONU.
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The Negotiation Competition, in existence since 1984, promotes greater interest among law students in legal negotiation and provides a means for them to practice and improve their negotiating skills. The competition simulates legal negotiations in which law students, acting as lawyers, negotiate a series of legal problems with a common set of facts known by all participants and confidential information known only to the participants representing a particular side. All the problems deal with the same general topic, but the negotiation situation varies with each round and level of the competition.
Moot Court and Law Review
Learn more about how you can hone written and oral advocacy skills and gain leadership experience through these student organizations.