Elon Law students Anne Evangelista and Marissa Kuzbyt reached the quarterfinals at the Richmond, Virginia regional of the National Moot Court Competition, after close preliminary rounds against teams from West Virginia and Louisville.
Evangelista and Kuzbyt gave exceptional oral arguments in each round, winning the oral argument portion of each preliminary round before being narrowly edged in a highly competitive quarterfinal round by Washington & Lee.
The team of Mackenzie Myers and Brian Sharpe also performed very well in the competition. Like Evangelista and Kuzbyt, Myers and Sharpe went 1-1 in the preliminary rounds, defeating a team from Kentucky and losing a very close round to Wake Forest. They missed advancing to the quarterfinals by the slimmest of margins.
The Richmond regional drew 21 teams from 12 law schools. Seven other schools advanced a team to the quarterfinals: Wake Forest, William & Mary, UNC, Washington & Lee, George Mason, Campbell and Louisville. Other schools competing included Duke, Richmond, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The National Moot Court Competition is an annual inter-law school event co-sponsored by New York City Bar Association’s National Moot Court Competition Committee and the American College of Trial Lawyers. It is one of the oldest and largest moot court competitions in the country, with over 120 law schools competing in regional rounds throughout the United States, with winners advancing to final rounds at the New York City Bar. This year’s performance by Evangelista and Kuzbyt marks the best finish by an Elon team in this competition. The teams were coached by Sr. Assoc. Dean Alan Woodlief and Professor Scott Gaylord, and extend special thanks to several faculty members, staff and alumni who practiced with them, including Professors Mike Rich, Tom Molony, Jim Exum, Dave Levine, Enrique Armijo, Patricia Perkins, and Tim McFarlin; alumnus Michael Costolo L’14; and staff member Jennifer Gibert.
The National Competition capped off a busy fall for the Moot Court Board. Earlier this fall, a team from Elon Law, Camille Hill and Patrick Ellington, represented the school very well at the Legal Ethics & Professionalism Moot Court Competition at Mercer University. Another team, Megan Boorsma, Lizzy Coltrane and Jocelyne Riehl, competed in the Leroy R. Hassell, Sr. National Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition at Regent University, reaching the quarterfinals and taking best brief honors. In early October, the Board hosted the Eighth Annual Elon Law Intramural Moot Court Competition and, later in the month, a group of Board members attended oral arguments before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
The Moot Court Board will pursue a robust competition schedule in spring 2016, fielding teams in the William B. Spong Moot Court Tournament at William & Mary Law School, the J. Braxton Craven, Jr. Memorial Competition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the National First Amendment Moot Court Competition in Washington, D.C., and the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition in Washington, D.C. Elon will also host the Sixth Annual Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition from March 31-April 2, 2016.
To learn more about Elon Law’s Moot Court Board, please visit http://www.elon.edu/e-web/law/mootcourt/default.xhtml.