Mootness: The Moot Court Blog

Live from the National Moot Court Competition

A quick & dirty post on a just-completed tournament:

Winner & Best Oral Advocate: Chicago-Kent College of Law
Runner-up & 2nd-Best Oral Advocate: University of Colorado
Best Brief: University of California, Davis

The other semifinalist teams were Duke University and George Washington University.

Other teams reaching the quarterfinals were University of Georgia, Loyola University Chicago, University of Minnesota, and St. Louis University.

Other teams reaching the octofinals were University of California, Davis, Cardozo, Loyola University New Orleans, University of Maryland, Mercer University, New York University, Texas Tech University, William Mitchell.

Florida Coastal Takes Second Chicago Bar Association Competition In Three Years

Amy Delauter, Jason Sexton, and Andrew Sutter of Florida Coastal College of Law won the 2007 Chicago Bar Association Moot Court Competition this November in a large city in Illinois. Finishing in second place were Brian Fahy, Jeff Hassler, and Amanda Main from Pepperdine University School of Law. Florida Coastal has become a fixture in the final round of the CBA Competition: FloCo teams won in 2005 and finished second to Chicago-Kent in 2004.

Competition semifinalists Christopher Chan, Alyssa Gunther, and Lub Reife of defending champ New York Law School won the Best Brief award. Best Oralist honors went to Michael Ensminger of the mighty George Mason School of Law.

Also advancing to the semifinals were Vanessa Burgess, Sara Thornton, and Aaron Vickery of Texas Tech University School of Law.

Honors for second- and third-best brief went to Florida Coastal's Tim Moss, Lisa DeLong, and Stephanie Lew and [School-That-Cannot-Be-Named-Right-Now]'s James Block and Cathleen Dettman. The awards for second- and third best oralist went to Matthew Olson of [Insert School Here] and Jigar Desai of Chicago-Kent College of Law.

Florida Coastal discusses the result on its moot court society's home page. Texas Tech discusses it here.

I'll fill in the missing law school information when I can.

Michigan Peeps: Help Me

Does anyone have results for the 2007 State of Michigan Moot Court Competition? I've got some info regarding previous competitions, but not the most recent one.

Regent Rules Wechsler First Amendment Competition

Ashleigh Kingery, Richard Wenner, and Heath Sabin of Regent University School of Law won the Fourteenth Annual Burton D. Wechler First Amendment Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Moot Court Honor Society of American University Washington College of Law. Also advancing to the final round were Julia Romano, Linet Bidrossian, and Nick Francescon of Southwestern Law School; a team from Southwestern won the 2006 competition, which has moved from the spring to the fall.

A team from South Texas College of Law won the Best Brief award. Best Oralist honors went to Scott Jones of the University of Richmond School of Law.

The semifinalist teams were from South Texas and Florida International University College of Law. Second- and third-place brief awards went to the Southwestern team and a squad from University of Oklahoma College of Law. Second- and third-place oralist honors went to Sandra Trujillo of Florida International and Mr. Wenner of Regent University.

American University has posted the results, photos, and a webcast of the final round on the competition's web page (link at the top of the page or, for the ultimate in convenience, right here). Regent University's report is here. Southwestern's is here.

It's As Though Their Coach Were Some Kind Of Genius: Chicago-Kent Teams Meet In Midwest Competition Finals

Rachel Adamczyk and Toni Odette of Chicago-Kent College of Law won the Fall 2007 Midwest Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association. They squared off in the final round against classmates Margaret Battersby and Michael Ko. The finals were held in the Chicago courtroom of the Illinois Supreme Court.

Ms. Adamczyk and Ms. Odette swept the other competition awards: the team received the trophy for Best Brief, and Ms. Adamczyk was honored for presenting the Best Oral Argument in the final round.

Also reaching the semifinals were two teams from the University of Illinois College of Law: Colin Delany & Omar Jafri and Michael Halpin & Katrina Hochstetler. Mr. Jafri was recognized as the top-scoring speaker in the semifinal round. Ms. Battersby of Chicago-Kent was the top-scoring advocate in the preliminary rounds.

This is the second consecutive win for Chicago-Kent in the Midwest Competition -- and the second in 2007, a feat made possible by the competition's move this year from the spring to the fall.

Baylor Students Win Second Consecutive Title In Texas Administrative Law Competition

Devin Huggins and Alex Bell of Baylor Law School won the Mack Kidd Administrative Law Moot Court Competition in Austin in October. Also reaching the final round were Daniel Werlinger, Maureen Semple-Hirsh, and Billy Davis from South Texas College of Law. Sixteen teams from Texas law schools participated in the tournament, which is sponsored by the Administrative Law Section of the State Bar of Texas.

Wade Glover, Shatorree Bates, and Jonathon Clark of Texas Tech University School of Law won the Best Brief Award. Mr. Huggins of Baylor was honored as the tournament's top advocate; Joel Bailey, who was a second Baylor team, was honored as the competition's second-best advocate.

Yet another Baylor team, Rob George and Lane Haygood, advanced to the semifinals. I presume another team did as well, and I'd bet it's from Texas, though I'll be danged if I know who it is. 

Success in this tournament (and competitive advocacy in general) is nothing new for Baylor's students. The school swept the top two spots in last year's admin law competition, and it has won the ten year-old tournament five times. One of the team's coaches, Professor Ron Beal, literally wrote the book on Texas administrative practice and procedure.

More details are in Baylor's press release; Texas Tech offers this report about the best brief award.

GWU Defies Gravity, Wins Championship Of The Universe In Lachs Space Law Competition

If there is any official policy here at Mootness, it is that we have a soft spot in our hearts for the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot. I have several theories as to why this is, but the leading one at the moment is this: The hardware. The Lachs Trophy. It is an awesome thing. I think it reminds me of women I wished I dated in college: it is beautiful, complicated, maybe a little nuts, all beguilingly sharp edges and dangerous curves. Click the thumbnail and look at the full-sized photo. And try to resist its power. I dare you.

So right now, the trophy is in the hands of the George Washington University Law School for the third time. David (D.J.) Western and Magin Puig Monsen earned it by winning the North American regional tournament last spring (sweeping the brief and oralist awards in the process) and then winning the world championship in Hyerabad, India in September. The world championship round pitted the GWU students against advocates from European regional champion Leiden University (the Netherlands) and Asia-Pacific regional champions the University of Queensland (Australia). There will be no interplanetary round. Those angry little frozen critters on the no-longer-a-planet Pluto thingee ain't getting their grubby tendrils on the Lachs Trophy.

The Queensland team won the Eileen Galloway Award for Best Brief. Rola Lin of Queensland won the Sterns & Tennen Award for Best Oralist.

GWU's report is here. A write-up in the fascinating Space Law Probe blog is here. Mootness reports on GWU's 2005 galactic championship are here and here.

First-Rate Entertainment: Spartans Prevail Over Texas Wesleyan In Pepperdine Competition

Whitney Baran, Clarene Dobronski, and Nicholas Lane of Michigan State University College of Law held off a Texas flood and won the Pepperdine National Entertainment Law Moot earlier this month in Malibu. They prevailed in the final round over Brittany Lannen, Evan Flournoy, and Patrick Cannon of Texas Wesleyan School of Law. The Spartans have an impressive record in the Pepperdine Competition (and in moot court in general).

The Michigan State team also won the award for Best Petitioner's Brief. The award for Best Respondent's Brief went to a team from Southwestern Law School. The Best Advocate Award went to Chris Cassidy of University of California Hastings College of Law. Ms. Baran of Michigan State was honored as the best advocate in the final round.

Two more Texas schools, South Texas College of Law and Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University, rounded out the final four and shared most of the competition awards with Michigan State and Texas Wesleyan. The awards for second and third-best Petitioner's briefs went to Texas Wesleyan and South Texas; SMU's team wrote the second-best Respondent's Brief. The award for third-best Respondent's brief went to student from Seton Hall School of Law. John Kane of SMU was honored as the second-place advocate. Ms. Baran of Michigan State finished third.

Pepperdine's press release announcing the results is here; the full results are posted here. Texas Wesleyan's report is here. Southwestern reports its team's brief award here (scroll down).

The Moot Court National Championship

Here's an exciting development: the Blakely Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center has announced that it will host the Moot Court National Championship in January 2009.

It'll work like this: programs will earn earn points through strong performances in major moot court tournaments throughout the United States. Details of the process are being finalized. The top 16 programs will convene in Houston for a genuine Texas shootout in what promises to be a memorable tournament of champions.

I will post more information as I receive it.

Kudos to the folks at UHLC for putting this together. In the trial ad world, the NITA Tournament of Champions has done wonderful things to put outstanding students and programs on display, as well as to tighten the community. A moot court analogue is a welcome, welcome thing.

Great Health: South Texas Closes In On 100th National Advocacy Win In SIU Health Law Competition

Natalie Barletta, Kaylyn Betts, and Ben Williams of the South Texas College of Law won the Sixteenth Annual National Health Law Moot Court Competition at Southern Illinois University School of Law in Carbondale. They defeated the strong team of Nicole Gerritsen and Jonathan Henry from Seton Hall University School of Law. This is the sixth win in nine years for South Texas in the SIU tournament. It is also the school's 97th win in a national advocacy competition; a trial team subsequently secured win number 98. Expect win 100 this spring. Probably early this spring. Coach/dean/ professor/counselor Gerald Treece runs a phenomenal program.

The Seton Hall team won the award for Best Brief. The competition awarded two Best Oralist prizes: the best overall oralist was William Godfrey of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law; the top preliminary round oralist was Sara Siegall of Chicago-Kent College of Law.

A second South Texas team -- Mary Katherine Gunn, Sara Patterson and Stephen E. Randall -- finished in third place. Ms. Barletta, Ms. Betts, and Mr. Williams of South Texas were runners-up for the Best Brief award.

South Texas's account of the competition is here; Seton Hall's is here; SIU's is here.

Tang Dynasty: Loyola Chicago Defeats Hastings In APALSA Nationals

Huda Krad and Caroline Kwak from Loyola University Chicago School of Law won the Thomas Tang National Moot Court Competition sponsored by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association. In the final round in Las Vegas earlier this month, the Loyola students defeated Kathy Dong and Simone Pang from University of California Hastings College of Law. This is the ninth time in fifteen years that a Loyola Chicago team has won the national competition. UC Hastings also has an outstanding history in the Tang competetition.

A second Hastings team, Justin Lau and Teri Nguyen, won the national Best Brief award. Ms. Krad of Loyola-Chicago won the tournament's Best Oralist award; Ms. Pang of Hastings was the runner-up.

A second Loyola team, Animesh Ravani and Michael Yuan, also advanced to the national competition. In the central region competition in Milwaukee in October, the two Loyola teams won the Regional Championship, Regional Runner-up, Best Oralist, and Second-best Oralist awards.  And the two teams tied for best brief in the region. In last year's Tang Nationals, Loyola teams swept the top two spots.

Loyola's account is here; the school's Wikipedia entry lists past Tang winners from the school.

Introducing the national finalists for the National Moot Court Competition

A quick and dirty post here, but here are the 28 schools that have placed teams in the national finals of the National Moot Court Competition. Some 179 teams competed in 14 regional tournaments over the last three weeks.

Regional winners are listed first.

• Region 1: Syracuse, Suffolk
• Region 2: Cardozo, NYU
• Region 3: GWU, Univ. of Maryland
• Region 4: Campbell, Duke
• Region 5: Mercer, Univ. of Georgia
• Region 6: Wayne State, Ohio State
• Region 7: Loyola Univ. New Orleans, LSU
• Region 8: Loyola Univ. Chicago, Chicago-Kent
• Region 9: Nebraska, St. Louis
• Region 10: Houston, Texas Tech
• Region 11: Colorado, UNLV
• Region 12: UC Davis, Loyola (Los Angeles)
• Region 13: Montana, Univ. of Washington
• Region 14: William Mitchell, Univ. of Minnesota,

A good year for the Jesuits, it seems, with 3 Loyola schools marching to New York City. (And all three schools have outstanding records in competitive advocacy.)

I'll fill in more details as they come.

Edit 11/28/07: Links to press releases and online announcements added.

Bulldogs Nip Gators In Hulsey-Kimbrell Competition

OK, so maybe it gets nobody points in that bestmootcourtprograms dot com rankings thingee. But the Hulsey-Kimbrell Moot Court Competition is the hands-down winner of the unofficial Mootness Award for Best Moot Court Tournament Concept. I tell my students that they're on the closest thing our law school has to a football team (and we might be the closest thing our university has to an athletic program -- who fears mighty Scarlet Knights of Illinois Tech*?). I admit the metaphor collapses under any scrutiny; as competitions go, moot court is probably more like Dancing With The Stars than the Super Bowl, though I think the subject would be a worthy one for further empircal studies and a resulting article in the Journal of Legal Education.

Regardless: kudos to folks at the University of Georgia School of Law and the University of Florida Levin College of Law for joining football and moot court in unholy matrimony since 1982. The Hulsey-Kimbrell competition pits teams from the two schools against each other on the eve of the annual Gator-Bulldog football game, a storied rivalry known as the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party (this is the nom de football game; presumably, moot court fans consume their cocktails indoors).

In this year's edition, the Bulldogs' Rebecca Thornhill and Tully Blalock prevailed over the Gators' Dana Israel and Josh Spount in what presiding Judge Gerald Tjoflat of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals and fellow panelists deemed "the finest oral argument we have heard in the history of this competition."

In the football game, the Bulldogs beat the Gators 42-30 in a contest that will long be remembered for Georgia's 70-man, 30-yards-in-taunting-penalties, dance-a-thon celebration after its first touchdown, an orgy inspired when normally mild-mannered head coach Mark Richt threatened his players with extra running at practice if they weren't flagged for excessive celebration after the team's first score.

Press reports of the competition -- from UGa here and here or from the Jacksonville Daily Record here -- suggest that the moot court student-athletes were more sedate in their celebration; I cannot imagine that Georgia Law Director of Advocacy Kellie Casey Monk threatened her team with, say, extra citation exercises if they did not earn excessive celebration penalties after answering the panel's first question in a way that seemed to please Judge Tjoflat.

Though I might pay admission to see that kind of thing unfold.

*You didn't raise the point, but I will: contrary to what my parents seem to think, the university for which I work, IIT, is not ITT Technical Institute, the mail-order junior college familiar to late night TV watchers everywhere. Were ITT to have a rivalry-driven showdown, presumably it would compete against The Art Instruction School in a pirate-drawing contest. Or against DeVry Institute in a late-night Cheeto-eating/air-conditioner-servicing contest. Or against some truck driving or bartending institute.

Loyola New Orleans Students Take JMLS IT/Privacy MCC

Rick Brown, Bill Burst, and Katie Francioni of Loyola University New Orleans College of Law won the 26th Annual John Marshall Law School International Moot Court Competition in Information Technology & Privacy Law, prevailing in the final round over Josh Deitz, Kakuti Lin, and Lindsey Shinn from the University of California Hastings College of the Law. A team from Loyola New Orleans finished in second place in last year's competition. The JMLS competition has long been an excellent one; typing its very long name, however, makes my fingers hurt.

The Dietz/Kakuti/Shinn team from UC Hastings also won the award for Best Petitioner's Brief. The winners of the award for Best Respondent's Brief were competition semifinalists Stacy Appleton, Adam Butkus, and Nick Mutton of Stetson University College of Law. The best-brief award winners will have their briefs published in The Journal of Computer & Information Law. New papa Brandon Graves of the University of Virginia School of Law was honored as the tournament's best oralist.

Also advancing to the semifinals was the team of Nahal Batmanghelidj and Hope Yates from Brooklyn Law School. The Ambassador Round, which showcases strong oral advocates, was won by Chris Baumann, Jim Graham, and Nathan Miller of Texas Wesleyan School of Law over in-state rivals from the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University.

Results are listed on the competition's blog. Full scores and results are here. LoNO reports the result here. Stetson reports its best-brief win here. Texas Wesleyan mentions the Ambassador Round win here.

Stetson Wins International Criminal Court Competition

Stephanie Ciechanowski, Chris Winkelman, and Ahmad Yakzan of Stetson University College of Law won the third Pace International Criminal Court Moot Competition in late October. It defeated a team from New York Law School and the team of Leila Parvizian, Delon Lewis, and Lauren DiLeo from Louisiana State University Law Center in the final round, held in late October in White Plains, New York. (ICC arguments feature presentations from the prosecution, defense, and victims' advocates, hence the three-team structure of the round.) The NYLS teams and LSU teams finished in second and third place, respectively. Teams from LSU have made it to the final round in all three ICC competitions.

The LSU team won the award for best memorial for the prosecution. The award for best defense memorial went to semifinalists Chad Ehrenkranz, Darren Leiser, and Roselyn Ramos of the University of Miami School of Law. And as soon as I hear who wrote the best memorial for the victim's advocate, I'll let you know.  The winning memorials will be published in the Pace International Law Review. Mr. Winkelman of Stetson was named the tournament's top oralist.

Stetson's account is here; LSU's is here; UMiami's is here.

Jayhawk Nation(al Crim Pro): Kansas Tops South Texas in San Diego Competition

Luke P. Sinclair and Clay Britton, 3Ls at the University of Kansas School of Law, won the  nineteenth annual National Criminal Procedure Tournament this October in San Diego. The team defeated Morgan Driscoll and Michael Long from South Texas College of Law in the final round.

Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Britton also won the Best Brief award. Adam Muller of the Franklin Pierce Law Center was honored as the tournament's Best Oralist.

Teams from Texas Wesleyan and Stetson University reached the semifinals and finished in third and fourth place, respectively.

KU's report is here; a piece from the Kansas City Star is here. Franklin Pierce's report is here. The full results are posted here.

Summer State Championships: Texas Wesleyan Takes TYLA Competition, Florida Coastal Wins Orseck Competition for Third Straight Year

Students from Florida Coastal School of Law and Texas Wesleyan School of Law won statewide tournaments this summer.  As folks active in the moot court world are well aware, both states are home to several of the country's best advocacy programs. 

Texas Wesleyan Notches First TYLA Win:  Melissa Swan, Matthew Wright, and Johannes Walker of Texas Wesleyan topped students from South Texas College of Law in the championship round of the Texas Young Lawyers Association's State Moot Court Competition last June in San Antonio. This marks the first win for Texas Wesleyan's up-and-coming advocacy program in this ultra-competitive tournament. The teams argued before justices of the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals in the final round.

Teams from defending champ St. Mary's University School of Law and Texas Tech University School of Law advanced to the semifinals. 

TYLA's account of the competition is here; Texas Wesleyan's is here.

FloCo* Wins Orseck Competition:  Valerie Lennon, Rick Lasseter, and Rick Marshall of Florida Coastal won the 44th Robert Orseck Moot Court Competition, held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Florida Bar Association.  Royce Bluitt, Reneka Redmond, and Alyson George of Stetson University College of Law finished in second place.  The finalists argued before justices of the Florida Supreme Court.  This was Florida Coastal's third straight win in the Orseck competition.  Last year, the school swept the competition's first two spots.

Ms. Lennon and Mr. Lasseter were named Best Advocates of the competition. Mr. Marshall received the Best Brief Award.

Florida Coastal's account is here; the FBA's is here.

*I have no idea if the good people at Florida Coastal go by FloCo, but anonymous sources tell me that Mootness has lagged badly in the edgy hipness department that's so important to the kids on the Facebook thing these days, so: yes, I did.