Appendix II  ElSA Oral Round Rules

4.5 Form and Content of the Oral Arguments


   4.5.1 Order of Presentation and Scope of Oral Argument

First the Complainant team captain shall be asked by “The Panel” to present his/her delegation, the length of time each member will address “The Panel” and then proceed to presenting oral arguments.

Subsequently the Respondent team captain shall be asked by “The Panel” to present his/her delegation, the length of time each member with address “The Panel” and then proceed to presenting oral arguments.

The complainant shall be given time for rebuttal and subsequently the Respondent time for sur-rebuttal.

The scope of the oral argument is not limited to the Written Memorial. The scope of the Complainant’s rebuttal is limited to the issues raised in the Respondent’s arguments and conversely the scope of the Respondent’s surrebuttal is limited to the issues raised in the Complainant’s rebuttal.

    4.5.2 Questions by The Panel

“The Panel” is asked and encouraged to pose questions to the teams at any point during their argument. While in the Preliminary Rounds these questions shall focus mainly on the issues relating to oral submissions, questions of a more general nature may be included during the Elimination Rounds.

       4.5.3 Duration of Oral Arguments

One pleading session, containing oral arguments of the Complainant and Respondent, shall last for no longer than 80 minutes, except where “The Panel“ executes its discretion to allow extra time as elaborated below.

Each team shall be given a total of 40 minutes to present its oral arguments, including time needed to answer “The Panel’s” questions as well as the time for rebuttal or sur-rebuttal. Teams are allowed to allocate time between each orator’s presentation of the arguments, and rebuttal or sur-rebuttal at their own will, but no more than 10 minutes may be used for rebuttal or sur-rebuttal.

“The Panel” shall be assisted by the IOC who is responsible for the time keeping. “The Panel” may allocate extra time in order to allow a team to finish its argument or answer the question posed by “The Panel”. In such a case, “The Panel” shall take into consideration equal treatment for the opposing team, and instruct the IOC Timekeeper to grant the same extension of time when requested by the members of the opposing team.

4.5.4 Role of Team Members in Oral Arguments

Each team member shall act as an orator in the presentation of the team’s oral argument in the Preliminary Rounds.

No more than three team members shall act as orators in the presentation of the team’s oral arguments in one oral pleading session.

No team member shall speak for longer than 20 minutes in one session, including rebuttal or sur-rebuttal, except as provided by Article 4.5.3 of theRules.

Team members shall be free to interchange between themselves during oral
argument and while answering questions from “The Panel”. In doing so team
members shall not violate the limitations of their speaking time, except as
provided by Article 4.5.3 of the Rules


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Larry Aspin   aspin at bradley.edu
Dept of Political Science
Bradley University