Volume Six: Moot Court and Oral Advocacy

Volume 6 of the Monograph is dedicated to Board Member Suzanne Ehrenberg, in memoriam.

“Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts.”

― Scout, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

           Suzanne Ehrenberg, a member of the Monograph Board and of the greater Legal Writing Community passed away on September 26, 2017. Her passing was unexpected and we mourn the loss of our friend and colleague.                       

            Suzanne was great professor and a wonderful colleague. Those of us who worked with her or knew her through conferences or projects found her to be a loyal friend and confidant. She was a gifted lawyer, writer, and speaker, and made significant contributions to legal analysis scholarship.

            I first met Suzanne when I responded to a survey she circulated to collect information for an article she was writing. We must have spent over an hour on the phone before we even got to the subject of the survey after quickly discovering that our lives crossed the same geographical trajectory at different times (Evanston to Hyde Park), that we shared the same hometown (Evanston), and that we were both connected to practically every educational institution in Chicago: we both attended The University of Chicago; I attended DePaul Law where Suzanne’s husband is a professor; we both taught at Northwestern Law; my brother attended Chicago-Kent, where Suzanne was a faculty member since 1985. Shared experiences and familiarities are the deep-rooted connections that form a true friendship, and Suzanne was a true friend.           

            Suzanne was a meticulous writer, an excellent researcher, and a devoted teacher. Colleagues described Suzanne as relentlessly rigorous, while at the same time compassionate and with a good sense of humor. A true believer in the power of strong analysis and communications skills, Suzanne was unrelenting in guiding her students to develop strong critical thinking skills.  For her efforts, she earned their respect and gratitude.

            Friends describe Suzanne as the ultimate Renaissance woman: she had a firm grasp on politics, law, architecture, travel, culture, history, and literature. In any discussion she offered her wit, wisdom, and keen intellect.

            In 2011, Suzanne told us everything she wanted us to know about her in a multi-media presentation entitled “20 Things About Me.” She told us that she grew up on the South Side of Chicago near the Museum of Science and Industry and later moved to Evanston, where she starred in her high school musical, Guys and Dolls.

            Suzanne told us that she graduated from Williams College with a degree in American history and literature (she did not mention the magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa part), then worked on Capitol Hill for a Congressman from Alabama. She returned to the South Side of Chicago after college to attend law school at The University of Chicago, and then circled back to her hometown of Evanston to raise her own family. Suzanne happily reported that she and her family spent a sabbatical year in Sydney, Australia.

            Suzanne had a fierce love for her family, her husband, Steven, her daughter Julia, and her son, Josh.

            She loved good French fries, ranking Al’s #1, with Epic Burger a close second.

            Suzanne’s favorite movies included To Kill a Mockingbird and Groundhog Day, and she enjoyed reading bone-chilling non-fiction such as A Civil Action and In Cold Blood.

            On the lighter side, she enjoyed the television shows Nashville and Fashion Police.

            A self-proclaimed necklace junkie, everyone who knew and loved Suzanne commented that she had fabulous jewelry.

            Suzanne was not humble about the fact that she was a good cook and at the same time not afraid to say she was a lousy baker.

            She had a sense of adventure, and was into kayaking, hiking, and cycling.

            Suzanne gave back to the community: she volunteered as a mentor to inner-city high school kids who applied to college. Suzanne wrote, “I was a Chicago Scholars mentor last year and can't wait to do it again!”

            Tom Petty was on her iPod in 2011; Adele in 2016.

            We will miss our friend, Suzanne. In an era of primarily virtual communication, Suzanne did not hesitate to pick up the phone and call to talk. I will miss our telephone check-ins and catch-ups, where we got all riled-up about the same issues, always in full agreement. She was refreshingly honest and simultaneously kind. She was the person always willing to pitch in, to be our sounding board, to offer professional insight. Suzanne was our friend who we could always count on.

I guess it's one of those things
You can never explain
Like when an angel cries
Like runaway trains
Like one of those times
That's never the same
Like when something dies
Like runaway trains

                       ~ Tom Petty, Runway Trains

Deborah L. Borman, 2017

The Editorial Board is proud to present the Sixth Volume of the Monograph Series. This volume includes timeless articles on classic moot court concepts and timely articles with current critiques and suggested reforms. We selected representative articles from U.S. legal scholarship on key insights into moot court: what it is and how to do it; how to compete at the highest level and how to score competitions; what moot court’s strengths and weaknesses are; and who it serves and (maybe sometimes) disserves. The articles selected for Volume 6 of the Monograph Series demonstrate a variety of perspectives from judges to practicing lawyers to law professors exploring what moot court means for those who teach, coach, design, judge, and participate in it.