Law students get deadline extension to watch basketball game after submitting spoof written submissions

Their lecturer loved it 🏀

A law professor has gone viral after tweeting about her students’ creative request for a deadline extension.

Sara Warf, who teaches legal writing at the University of North Carolina School of Law, took to Twitter on Wednesday to share the uplifting anecdote.

Her students had to draft an application for summary judgment, due on Sunday. But the deadline clashed with what Legal Cheek research establishes is the semi-finals of a popular basketball tournament, with the University of North Carolina (Michael Jordan’s college team) playing arch-rivals Duke.

They have a (SJ) motion memo due Sunday worth 65% of their grade. They only have ten total days to work on it.

If you are remotely watching the NCAA tournament, you know what else happens this weekend: a historic Final Four UNC-Duke matchup.

— Sara Warf (@SaraBWarf) March 30, 2022

Nothing daunted, Warf’s law class submitted a request to push the deadline back until after the match — in the style of a formal court application.

What to do!! Only one answer: have a representative draft a motion for extension of time and file it with their RRWA prof. It’s beautifully formatted, cites the syllabus & other sources, and is just generally delightful. pic.twitter.com/Ge1IgTYyws

— Sara Warf (@SaraBWarf) March 30, 2022

The spoof motion saw the students “respectfully request an order granting plaintiff(s), pro se, an additional 24 hours to file their motions for summary judgment”. It was “filed” in the “Orange County Educational Court” and accompanied by what Warf called a “beautifully formatted” memo (written submissions).

The memo noted that although the Carolina-Duke rivalry (which has its own, enormous Wikipedia page) stretches back 334 games over 100 years, this is the first time the teams have met in this tournament. It therefore met the test set by the law school syllabus for a deadline extension: when “something wild happens to the academic calendar” (apparently this is the actual wording).

Another student filed a meme-tastic amicus brief.

AND THEN: our very own @adamcgillette FILED AN AMICUS BRIEF IN SUPPORT pic.twitter.com/VxpQcI3EFB

— Sara Warf (@SaraBWarf) March 30, 2022

Warf – whose CV reveals that she was men’s basketball team manager while a UNC student — proved sympathetic, as did her colleagues.

Within an hour, we had not only unanimously agreed to grant the extension but also had a draft order ready to issue. Definitely good cause shown. pic.twitter.com/9FNCTIxiPf

— Sara Warf (@SaraBWarf) March 30, 2022

The class now has until Tuesday to submit their assignment. You might call that a slam dunk.

SQE lecturers take note: Man City v Liverpool is next Sunday.