(This article reports on news from May 2025. A “Latest” section at the end covers the 2025–26 rankings.)
Michigan State University College of Law’s moot court program was ranked No. 1 in the nation for the 2024–25 season by the University of Houston Law Center’s Blakely Advocacy Institute, which released the rankings on May 1, 2025. MSU finished first among more than 200 law schools, ahead of NYU School of Law, with South Texas College of Law, Liberty University School of Law and Baylor University School of Law rounding out the top five. It was MSU’s second No. 1 ranking in two years and its third top-five finish in six years (MSU Today, May 6, 2025).
What moot court is and how the ranking works
Moot court is a simulated appellate case: law students write an appellate brief and argue it orally before a panel of judges, often practicing lawyers or real judges. Schools send teams to national and regional competitions, many of them focused on a specific area of law. The Blakely Advocacy Institute’s ranking totals each school’s results in these competitions — championships, finalist and semifinal finishes, and best brief and best speaker awards (Blakely Advocacy Institute rankings).
MSU Law’s 2024–25 results
| Result | Competition | Students |
|---|---|---|
| National champion (fall 2024) | Wechsler First Amendment Moot Court Competition | Amanda Igra, Joe Greene |
| National champion (fall 2024) | Zehmer Workers’ Compensation Moot Court Competition | Reem Albudoor, Nicholas Langenberg, Neelan Bosnic |
| National champion (fall 2024) | Williams Institute Moot Court Competition | Noah Martin, Gabby Sheets |
| Regional champion (spring 2025) | National Appellate Advocacy Competition | Joe Greene, Laura Fox, Nichole Gertsen |
| Regional champion (spring 2025) | Saul Lefkowitz Trademark Competition | Nayeli Diaz, Joshua Kaplansky, Areiyen Hofioni, Jessica Fox |
| Regional champion (spring 2025) | Shapero Cup Regional Moot Court Competition | Nicholas Langenberg, Katherine Held, Brandon Matthews |
MSU students also won five best brief and two best oralist awards and reached four national semifinals, including first-place brief awards at the Wechsler First Amendment and Wechsler Criminal Law competitions and first-place oralist awards at the Shapero Cup and the Gibbons Criminal Procedure competition (MSU Today).
Jennifer Copland, associate clinical professor of law and director of MSU Law’s competitions program, said the results were “a community effort involving a lot of volunteer time from our alumni and professors.” More than 25 professors, alumni, practitioners and friends of MSU coached and advised the moot court, trial and arbitration teams that season. Students selected for the program receive experiential learning credits on a pass/fail basis. Dean Michael Sant’Ambrogio congratulated “all the students who participated.”
Why it matters for law students
Moot court is one of the main ways U.S. law schools teach advocacy alongside clinics (representing real clients under supervision) and externships. It builds legal research, persuasive writing and oral argument skills. When comparing law schools, applicants can look at advocacy rankings like Blakely’s together with U.S. News’s specialty rankings for clinical training and trial advocacy.
Options for international students at MSU Law
- J.D.: the three-year professional law degree that prepares graduates for U.S. bar exams.
- Advanced Standing J.D.: for graduates of an in-person foreign law degree, who can transfer up to 29 credits toward a J.D. MSU says this offers more preparation for a U.S. bar exam than a one-year LL.M. while adding only one more year of study (MSU Law Advanced Standing J.D.).
- Online Global Food Law LL.M.: a specialized, fully online LL.M.; international students without a U.S. J.D. complete 28 credits (MSU Global Food Law). Because it is online, it does not lead to an F-1 visa.
- Exchange and non-degree study: students from partner and other law schools can take courses for a semester or a year (MSU Law non-degree programs).
Michigan State at a glance
Michigan State ranks No. 69 among National Universities in the 2027 U.S. News ranking and No. 93 in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In U.S. News’s 2026 law specialty rankings, the College of Law placed No. 75 for clinical training and No. 84 for trial advocacy. MSU enrolled 52,089 students in fall 2025, including 4,419 international students (2,182 undergraduates and 2,237 graduate students) (IPEDS). See our Michigan State University school page and the schools and majors rankings.
Latest: the 2025–26 rankings
In the 2025–26 Blakely rankings, released April 24, 2026, MSU Law placed No. 6, its seventh straight year in the national top 16. Sixty MSU students competed that season; teams won three national championships (the Chicago Bar Association Moot Court Competition, the Zehmer Workers’ Compensation competition and the National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare and Adoption Law) and two regional championships, along with four best brief and three best oralist awards (MSU College of Law, May 26, 2026). The University of Miami School of Law reported that its moot court board finished No. 3 nationally that season (University of Miami News, May 2026).
References
- MSU Law ranked No. 1 nationwide for moot court program (MSU Today, May 6, 2025)
- MSU Law ranked No. 6 nationwide for moot court program (MSU College of Law, May 26, 2026)
- Moot Court Program Rankings (Blakely Advocacy Institute, University of Houston Law Center)
- School of Law’s Papy Moot Court Board rises to #3 nationally (University of Miami, May 2026)
- Advanced Standing J.D., Global Food Law LL.M. and Non-Degree Programs (MSU College of Law)
- Michigan State University (Forward Pathway school page; IPEDS enrollment data)