The Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition (NELMCC)

About the Competition

Every year law student advocates nationwide assemble at The Elisabeth Haub School of Law to compete in the largest interschool moot court competition under one roof. Over 200 competitors and 150 attorneys participate in grading briefs and serving as judges for the three day competition.

NELMCC tests students' skills in appellate brief writing and oral advocacy and uses issues drawn from real cases to provide students first-hand experience in environmental litigation while also providing a rigorous academic experience.

The Competition is distinctive in that three adverse teams argue the issues, reflecting the fact that environmental litigation frequently involves multiple parties — the government, a public interest group, and a member of the regulated industry.

Rounds

Oral arguments begin with three preliminary rounds. Judges evaluating the oral arguments include attorneys with environmental law expertise, local attorneys and judges from the nation’s courts. Final round judges are members of the federal and state benches and the US EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board.

The Problem

Each year the legal problem involves timely issues of national importance and/or internatonal importance to the practice of environmental law.

REGISTRATION IS OFFICIALLY OPEN:   

• Registration is limited to the first 51 teams.  One Team per school. Payment link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nelmcc-2025-team-payment-registration-registration-920931991377
• Deadline to register is October 1 or until full. 
• Each team must complete the online individual team member name registration form by October 26, 2024 
• The nonrefundable registration fee is $1,195 payable online by credit card or check payment
• NELMCC office will notify team contact with Team Number when school is officially registered.
• The Problem will be distributed by email on or about October 3, 2024 to 1 Team Contact provided on the registration form.
• Late registrations will be considered if space allows.

Click here for PDF of 2025 Fact Sheet

Sonesta Hotel - White Plains

2025 Shuttle Information

Ground Travel Transportation

Click here for TEAMS
 

Click here for JUDGES

2024 Official Rules

2025 Problem

2025 Problem Questions & Answers

Briefs: Service of Opposing Teams

In satisfaction of the requirement of service on opposing teams, the 2025 teams have submitted electronic briefs by email attachments. These files are in PDF format. Teams can be identified by their number.

Competitors: Please take a moment to look at your own team's brief and report any problems by email to nelmcc@law.pace.edu or telephone (914) 422-4426

LINKS TO INDIVIDUAL BRIEFS

Below are the links to the individual briefs. Although we have scanned all the files for viruses, saving the files gives your virus-scanning software a chance to rescan and is the best practice when downloading files from the web. If a team has withdrawn from the competition, their corresponding team number will not link to a brief.

Click here for Oral Argument Procedure

Click here for Preliminary round judging form

Click here for quarter-final and semi-final round judging form

Click here for winner designation form

Click here for Judge Evaluation form for Competitors
 

Click here to view 2024 NELMCC Competition

Click here to view 2024 Final Team Scores

Click here to view the photos from the 2024 Competition
 

The 2024 Jeffrey G. Miller
National Environmental Law
Moot Court Competition Results

2024 WINNER
University of Minnesota Law School - Team 29
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Maria Pfister, Poojan Thakrar, Hanna Weil

2024 FINALIST
University of Georgia School of Law - Team 8
Transnational Gas Pipelines, LLC (TGP)
Michael Jones, Joseph Will, Emily Wood

2024 FINALIST
Boston College School of Law – Team 5
Holy Order of Mother Earth (HOME)
Cameron Cantelmo, Donald Fagan, Haley Rowlands

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 2024 Best Oralist
Asna Poonawalla - Team 2
Baylor University School of Law

Best Oralist - Honorable Mention
 Alexis Pineda - Team 2
Baylor University School of Law

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2024 David Sive Award for Best Brief Overall

University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law - Team 34
Holy Order of Mother Earth (HOME)
Jake Collier, Taylor Macy, Sana Mohammed

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University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law - Team 21
Brief for Transnational Gas Pipelines, LLC (TGP)
Lauren Cormany, Olivia McQuarrie, Carter Moore
 
 Northeastern University School of Law - Team 23
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)
Anjika Pai, Marcus Bockhorst

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Each year, our campaign goal is to raise money that will continue to grow NELMCC as a premier environmental moot court and add to the outstanding reputation of the Pace Environmental Law Program.
Please consider making a donation to NELMCC.   We rely 100% on the generous support of donors to help fund the administration of the event.
Based on your donation level, you will be recognized for your generosity in a variety of ways as shown on the enclosed sponsor form.  Click here for more information & donation levels. 

CLICK HERE TO MAKE ONLINE DONATION
SPECIAL NOTE: CHECK THE BOX TO DESIGNATE YOUR GIFT TO THE  "NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAW MOOT COURT COMPETITION"

Thank you for supporting NELMCC.

FINAL ROUND JUDGES

 

Click here for the background and history of the original "Dawn-Storm King" watercolor painting. The painting is exhibited each year by the winning school of the competition.  

Judges are eligible to earn 2 skills/practice credits for every NELMCC round judged.  (maximum 6 credits in total allowed)

Judges may also sit for the NYS Ethics CLE Program for attorneys on Friday, February 21, 2025

***To receive credit Attorneys must sign in and out name and time for each Round judged in the Tudor Room and for Ethics CLE Program.

The Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition is grateful to the organizations and people whose generous financial support help make the event possible.  

We are pleased to have the following as major supporters:

The American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources (SEER) is the premier forum for environmental, energy, and resource lawyers, advisors, and decision makers. SEER represents more than 7,500 members with a wide range of professional interests and is committed to providing content to help members enhance professional skills and dialogue on relevant subject areas. To learn more about SEER, please visit www.ambar.org/joinseer.

Here is link to view  previous competitions (2011-present):  Video Recordings

The winning briefs can be found in our library research guide:  http://libraryguides.law.pace.edu/nelmcc