Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to argue a legal case before prominent judges? Join us on Home School Heartbeat as Michael Farris talks with one student who had that opportunity.

Michael Farris:
My guest today is Rayel Papke. She's one of the members of the winning moot court team from Patrick Henry College in their recent competition against Oxford University. Rayel, welcome to the program.


Rayel Papke:
Thank you, Dr. Farris.


Farris:
Rayel, you and Matthew made it to the final round in the competition, and you won. What was the biggest challenge in preparing for and arguing that round?


Papke:
That's easy—learning British contract law! It was hard enough to learn British contract law, but especially on top of that to learn it well enough to argue it before the two men who wrote half of the authorities that we were working from. Lord Bingham and Lord Hutton were both extremely knowledgeable in that area of the law, as they of course had written the opinions. And ordinarily mastering case law is not a problem, but we had three definite obstacles to face. The first was that we had no classes on contract law, so we were totally unfamiliar with the territory; secondly, we couldn't exactly go down to the local bookstore or library and get books on contract law; and third, we didn't exactly have easy access to British cases. So it was extremely challenging to know that area of the law and to be able to learn it well enough to argue it before these two extremely learned gentlemen in the British House of Lords.


Farris:
Rayel, congratulations on your success. I'm Mike Farris.