It is designed and administered by the HLS Board of Student Advisers and has been in existence since 1911,[1] when it was founded by a bequest in honour of the erstwhile dean of the School who had died the year before, James Barr Ames.
[3] As currently structured, the official competition begins in the fall (usually October or November) of students' 2L year with a round-robin qualifying round.
After several years of a single-elimination tournament, the format changed to a round-robin that more closely resembles the current qualifying round structure.
[4] The final round competition is one of the most popular events at the Law School each year, especially because a justice from the U.S. Supreme Court usually presides.
Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey of the Colorado Supreme Court, an Ames semi-finalist in her time at Harvard, wrote that "what was most rewarding was the opportunity to work as a team with other students.