Legal Debaters Prepare for Final Scrap in 'Commonwealth of Ames'

Preparations are going forward for the final round of this year's arguments in the Law School's traditional Ames Competition. Under the direction of Albert L. Goldman 3L, the Board of Student Advisors has set August 29 as the date for the final and three prominent federal judges have agreed to sit on the case.

As a culmination of three years of competitive arguments before the Supreme Court in the Commonwealth of Ames, a mock court of appeals, the finals have an important place in the legal world. Counsels in real cases occasionally read the briefs of these arguments before preparing their own briefs.

Each year 60 clubs, of eight men each, enter into the competition which is finally settled when the two top clubs argue before well-known visiting jurists. Justices Stanley Reed, Owen J. Roberts, and William O. Douglas.

Quick Thinking Counts

Cases argued in the Commonwealth of Ames are as fictitious as is the Commonwealth itself, but all of them are based on legal questions which are still open to debate. The teams, or clubs, are scored on the quality of their briefs and their ability to "think on their feet" regardless of the legal merits of the case.

For any one class the competition goes on throughout the full three year course at the Law School. First-year men argue more elementary cases and their scores are not officially part of the competition.

In the beginning of the third term, the clubs are fully organized and competition enters the qualifying round. At the end of the round, consisting of several arguments by each club, the scores of the teams are averaged, and all but the highest 16 are dropped from the competition. This process of elimination is continued until the fifth term when the two highest clubs compete in the finals.

Monetary Prizes Awarded

Participation in the competition is voluntary, but practically all new students enter it. Monetary prizes are awarded to the winning club. These prizes come from from the bequest of Mrs. James Barr Ames, for whom the competition is named. Clubs are usually informally organized and are named after famous jurists such as Holmes and Brandeis.

This year's final argument will be open to the public and the subject will be on the "taxibility of incomes of the beneficiary of a trust." Though this sounds like a dull and difficult subject for the average layman, any observer can get a fairly good idea of what is going on by reading the briefs, which are handed out like theatre programs at an argument.