Two second-year students came away victorious from the College of Law’s 2021 Advocates’ Prize Moot Court Competition.
Judges named Molly Green-Majewski and Holly Nehls, both second-year law students, as the best team, while Anne Crisp, a third-year law student, was selected as the winner of the Powell Prize for the best oralist. Crisp also authored the competition’s best brief while Peyton Faulkner-Ritchie and Kay Frazier, both second-year students, earned recognition for the second-best brief.
Majewski and Nehls argued their winning case on behalf of a fictional petitioner, Elliot Chapman, while Crisp argued on behalf of the fictional respondent, Driscoll, Inc.
In preparing for the competition, teams examined civil procedure issues in the context of an employment discrimination action alleging retaliation for reporting a discriminatory employment practice.
U.S. Court of Appeals Judges Debra Ann Livingston (2nd Circuit) and Julia Smith Gibbons (6th Circuit), along with U.S. District Court Judges Carlton Reeves (Southern District of Mississippi) and Ricardo H. Hinojosa (Southern District of Texas) judged the final round.
The annual competition enables students to prepare for courtroom experience that culminates with their presentation of an oral argument in front of a panel of judges who prepare for the competition by reviewing a student-written bench brief.
Judges ask the students questions during the competition and evaluate their arguments, knowledge and use of legal authority, and poise and effectiveness in responding to questions. Legal writing professors grade and rank the students’ appellate briefs.
Law students Meagan Alderson, Lily-Ann Fairweather, Peyton Faulkner-Ritchie, Kay Frazier, Mitchell Gladstein, Jacob Misenheimer, Stephanie Ramirez, William Wise Rudolph, K. McKenna Snyder and Madeline Wood faced off in preliminary rounds last week leading to the final event Thursday.
The College of Law’s Moot Court Board, including students Andres Lozano (chair), Courtney Harton (competition vice-chair), Elizabeth Cox, Halle Hammond, Grady McGinnity and Jonathan Russell, coordinated and hosted the competition.