Board of Advocates (BOA)

The Board of Advocates (BOA) is a student run organization at the University of Missouri School of Law that provides law students with opportunities to enhance their public speaking and writing skills through practical experience in a variety of advocacy based competitions. The competitions also challenge law students to apply classroom theory and problem solving skills to real world situations.

The BOA coordinates the Mock Trial, Negotiation, Mediation, Client Counseling, and Transactional Law competitions. Additionally, BOA facilitates the Polsinelli Fall Moot Court competition and also works with the first-year Advocacy and Research Faculty to coordinate the 1L Moot Court competition. BOA is also home to two trial teams and two arbitration teams. Members of these teams compete at a regional level and have the opportunity to advance to a national tournament. Tryouts are held at the beginning of the school year and are open to all students. BOA is run by third-year law students, while second-year law students serve as candidates for the Board. First-year students participate by volunteering to assist competitions. All law students may compete in BOA competitions.