Chief Justice Roberts to judge NCCU moot court

Durham, NC -- The N.C. Central University law students who compete in the finals of next year's moot court competition have a little extra reason to be nervous: The judge on the bench will be John Roberts, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Roberts will be on campus for a day next April at the behest of Raymond Pierce, dean of NCCU's law school. Pierce met Roberts at a recent judicial conference and gave the hard sell, regurgitating fact after fact about the school, which has been lauded in recent years for affordability and stellar passage rates on the state bar exam.

Pierce asked him to come and speak at the school.

"He said he doesn't do speeches but would judge a moot court competition," Pierce said Friday. "You can imagine, it will be a packed house."

NCCU's law school has never hosted a supreme court justice. The event will be for students and probably not open to the public, Pierce said. A reception will follow the moot court competition -- a courtroom exercise in which students argue sides of real cases.

Roberts, 53, was appointed to the high court in 2005 by President Bush.

The chief justice's visit will surely make an impression on students. It won't hurt law school's profile either, Pierce said.

"To have a sitting chief justice at your school is invaluable," he said. "It just drives up the prominence of your law school and it increases the value of a degree from your law school."

The law school enrolls about 600 students. Last year, preLaw Magazine named it the nation's best value among law schools.