2009 Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition

Background on the Competition

The Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition, held each year in the fall, is named after an outstanding New Jersey trial lawyer, Nathan Baker. After graduation from New York University School of Law, Nathan Baker opened up an office in Hoboken, New Jersey. At the outset, Mr. Baker represented the immigrant families who worked as longshoremen, seamen and industrial workers in New Jersey and New York. In later years, he provided legal counsel to the first-generation sons and daughters who continued to live in the area.

Nathan Baker was nationally renowned expert in admiralty law and a leading advocate for the rights of seamen and longshoremen. In New Jersey, he was recognized for his skill in trial advocacy and participated in many important court cases that expanded the legal rights of accident victims, such as Henningsen (products liability), Gluckoff (wrongful death), Ellis (proximate cause), O'Brien (comparative negligence) and Snyder (premises liability).

In 1982, Yale Law School established the Nathan Baker Professorship of Law to support the teaching of trial advocacy and evidence. In 2000, Rutgers School of Law-Newark dedicated the Baker Trial Courtroom at Rutgers Law School - Newark through his generous gift. Each fall, the Moot Court Board administers the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition, which is open to all second and third year law students. The experience affords such students the opportunity to improve litigation and advocacy skills while obtaining feedback from judges and attorneys.

The winners of the Nathan Baker Mock Trial Competition will go on to represent Rutgers School of Law-Newark in the National Mock Trial Competition.