Order in the court

What do lawyers typically do after spending their morning arguing a case in front of the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court?

Sarah Bayko, a third-year law student, said she planned to grab lunch before taking a much-earned nap.

Andrew Mathias, also a third-year law student, said he planned to go eat a steak and watch college football.

Bayko, Mathias, Brook Andrews and Meghan Johnson, all third-year law students, participated in a moot court held in the law school auditorium Friday.

The hypothetical case of Door v. U.S. was argued before a panel of five judges that Bob Bockman, the students' adviser and an adjunct law school professor, said was "probably unprecedented."

Five chief judges sat on the panel, including Chief Justice John Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court; Chief Justice Jean Toal of the South Carolina Supreme Court; William Wilkins, chief judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Kay Hearn, chief judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals; and Joseph Anderson Jr., chief judge of the U.S. District Court of South Carolina.

"The university can be extremely proud," Bockman said. "This wouldn't happen everyday and may not happen again."

He added that this was "an event for any law school."

In moot court, two students representing the petitioner in a lawsuit and two representing the respondent have allotted time to argue their case before a panel of judges. No jury is present, and participants are never sure of what the panel may ask.

"An oral argument in this context is essentially a dialogue with the court," Bockman said.

The four students worked on the case for more than a month - researching, writing briefs and working on oral arguments for the historic showing.

"I'm glad I did every ounce of preparation," Bayko said.

With their parents in attendance and some of the nation's top judges seated behind the same bench used by the state's original Supreme Court, each student had 10 questions with which to argue their points and field questions from the panel.

"It was a nerve-wrecking experience," Mathias said, but added that it was "fun once the ball got rolling."

In the case, Dom L. Door was stopped by 10 immigration officials during a search for Seery Scamb, a wanted man.

After showing that he was not Scamb, Door consented to a search of his bag, which led to the discovery of a fake driver's license and a password-protected computer.

During interrogations, in which Door requested an attorney but was told one was not present, the password was given and, using the information found in the computer, Door was later indicted on 2,006 counts of immigration-related fraud.

Andrews and Bayko, arguing for Door, maintained that while the initial search was legal, the subsequent search of the backpack was not. They also said that Door's right to counsel had been violated.

Johnson and Mathias, representing the federal government, said the search was warranted by Door's nervous behavior when surrounded by the federal agents.

They also argued that Door willfully waived his right to an attorney.

Both sides were routinely interrupted by the panel, which posed unscripted questions to the students.

Bockman said he was impressed by the students' performance. He said they "set a very good example of what real appellants have to be."

Bockman added that the students "conducted themselves the way we expect: respectful and prepared."

He wasn't the only one impressed.

"We don't normally do this when a case is over, but I think it would be appropriate for us to applaud you," Roberts said.

He congratulated the students for taking the panel's questions head on, something he said most lawyers don't do.

Bayko, Andrews and Mathias will later use the same case for national competition about a month away, Bockman said.

"If the performance is the same, they will do extremely well in the competition," Bockman said.

Roberts coincided a trip to the state to match the moot court. Roberts is a guest of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham as he tours the USC and Charleston law schools.

Graham said the visit "will long be remembered by the South Carolina legal community. It recognizes our state's efforts, both at USC and the Charleston School of Law, to train future lawyers and judges for our state and nation."

Students who missed Friday's session can stream the video from the university's Web site.