Mootness: The Moot Court Blog

Hastings Takes San Diego Crim Pro Title

Kelly O'Donnell and Jessica Sloan of the University of California Hastings College of Law won the seventeenth annunal National Criminal Procedure Tournament, sponsored by the Appellate Moot Court Board at the University of San Diego School of Law.  Also advancing to the final round were Chris Fahrenthold and Joseph Hoelscher of Baylor Law School. Both schools not only have highly regarded advocacy programs, but a pattern of recent successes in this tournament: Baylor won in 2004, and in 2005 placed two teams in the top five for the second year in a row; Hastings in 2004 reached the semifinals and had the tournament's top oralist (Evan Hoppin).

Semifinalists Ali Brady and J. Shontavia Jackson of the University of Arkansas School of Law won the award for best brief. Clay Adkinson of Florida State University College of Law -- who, along with teammate Maureen Walterbach, also reached the semifinals -- was honored as the top individual oralist.  Another Hastings team, Jason Liljestrom and John Garibaldi, wrote the second-ranked brief.

The top 10 teams, briefs, and speakers are compiled here.  Baylor's account is here.

Kelly O'Donnell and Jessica Sloan of the University of California Hastings College of Law won the seventeenth annunal National Criminal Procedure Tournament, sponsored by the Appellate Moot Court Board at the University of San Diego School of Law.  Also advancing to the final round were Chris Fahrenthold and Joseph Hoelscher of Baylor Law School. Both schools not only have highly regarded advocacy programs, but a pattern of recent successes in this tournament: Baylor won in 2004, and in 2005 placed two teams in the top five for the second year in a row; Hastings in 2004 reached the semifinals and had the tournament's top oralist (Evan Hoppin).

Semifinalists Ali Brady and J. Shontavia Jackson of the University of Arkansas School of Law won the award for best brief. Clay Adkinson of Florida State University College of Law -- who, along with teammate Maureen Walterbach, also reached the semifinals -- was honored as the top individual oralist.  Another Hastings team, Jason Liljestrom and John Garibaldi, wrote the second-ranked brief.

The top 10 teams, briefs, and speakers are compiled here.  Baylor's account is here.

Mootness Is Not Dead

Sharp observers of this site have noticed something:  it has gotten woefully out of date.

My bad.

I am not dead, and neither is this site.  Repair work begins this week.  I'll be adding reports from last fall's competition season; I'll then begin the heavy work of reporting on the boatload of results from this spring.

One broad observation:  Interesting things are happening in moot court.  Fields have gotten larger in many tournaments this year.  And better.  The wealth is, more and more, getting shared:  though the programs that traditionally excel are continuing to do so, we're getting a broader variety of schools reaching winner's circles.

Sharp observers of this site have noticed something:  it has gotten woefully out of date.

My bad.

I am not dead, and neither is this site.  Repair work begins this week.  I'll be adding reports from last fall's competition season; I'll then begin the heavy work of reporting on the boatload of results from this spring.

One broad observation:  Interesting things are happening in moot court.  Fields have gotten larger in many tournaments this year.  And better.  The wealth is, more and more, getting shared:  though the programs that traditionally excel are continuing to do so, we're getting a broader variety of schools reaching winner's circles.

Tulsa Students Sweep Health Law Competition

Bryan Harrington and Jason Lile of the University of Tulsa College of Law won the Fourteenth Annual National Health Law Moot Court Competition at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.  It was an all-Golden Hurricane final round:  Tulsa students Jamiee Reed and Wendy Higgins finished in second place.  This is the second time in three years that a Tulsa team has won this competition and the third year in a row the school has placed a team in the final round.

Winning the best brief award were Hunter Tzovarras and Amanda Moore of Quinnipiac University School of Law.  Cavan Doyle and Christine Wiles of the Loyola University Chicago School of Law submitted the runner-up best brief.

Mr. Lile was honored as the tournament's best overall oral advocate.  Vannessa Voight of Indiana University-Indianapolis School of Law was chosen best preliminary round oralist.  She and her teammate, Lisa Gethers, finished third overall in the competition.

SIU's report of the competition is here.

The competition is jointly sponsored by Southern Illinois University Law School's Center for Health Law and Policy, the School of Medicine's Department of Medical Humanities, the American College of Legal Medicine, and the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation.

That's Entertainment: SMU Beats Chicago-Kent In Pepperdine Entertainment Law Competition

Joshua Sandler and a teammate from the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University won the Eighth Annual National Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition at Pepperdine University School of Law.  [Help me out if you know both students' names.]  Finishing in second place were Jason Gordon and Robert Newman of Chicago-Kent College of Law.

The SMU team also won the award for Best Petitioner's Brief.  A team from the University of Washington School of Law won the award for Best Respondent's Brief.

Jonathan Holbrook of the University of North Carolina School of Law was honored as the tournament's Best Advocate.

Also advancing to the tourament's final four were Maureen Peknic and Corrie Hurm from New York Law School, as well as a team from Michigan State University College of Law.  The NYLS team wrote the second-best Petitioner's brief; the award for third-best petitioner's brief went the University of California Hastings College of Law.  The Chicago-Kent team wrote the second-best Respondent's brief, and a team from Fordham Law School came in third.

Mr. Sandler of SMU was honored as the tournmament's second-best advocate.  Evan Neadel of Seton Hall University School of Law finished in third place.

Pepperdine's summary of the results is here.  Chicago-Kent's report is here.