ASU's Moot Court team takes 5th place at national championships

Jan. 28, 2010 -- Arkansas State University’s award-winning Moot Court team took 5^th place in the American Collegiate Moot Court Association (ACMA) National Championships held at Florida International University College of Law Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 15-16. The sixty-four two-person teams competing represented thirty-two universities. ASU sent three teams, including Lilia Pacheco and Jervonne Newsome, Kayla Shirey and Ryan Mullenix, and Alexandra (Allie) Rodery and Abram Skarda.

Lilia Pacheco and Jervonne Newsome made an appearance in the Elite Eight round, placing 5^th in the nation for oral advocacy. Kayla Shirey and Ryan Mullenix placed 5^th in the National Brief Writing competition. (Mullenix was last year’s national championship winner in the brief writing competition.) In the individual speaker competition, Jervonne Newsome placed 17^th out of the 128 speakers in the tournament. Allie Rodery was ASU’s second highest placed speaker.

Newsome and Pacheco were defeated (in a split decision) by the eventual national champion from Patrick Henry College. On their way to the Elite Eight, the ASU teams defeated teams from Cal State-Long Beach, Patrick Henry College, the College of Wooster, the University of Tampa, and The College of the Holy Cross.

A moot court competition involves students arguing a hypothetical case before a fictitious Supreme Court composed of attorneys, judges, public officials and/or law school students. It combines training in all the things any lawyer would say are crucial for a career—speaking/advocacy, writing, and research skills. Moot court also allows ASU undergraduates to meet and network with law students, law school professors, career attorneys, and sitting judges from around the country.

Dr. Hans Hacker, assistant professor of political science and moot court coach, said, “I was very pleased with our showing. Arkansas State brought three very fine teams, including our champions, Jervonne and Lilia. I had a very good feeling about this competition. We had a good chance to go deep into the tournament, and we did.”

The ASU Moot Court Team is a competitive team participating in the Southwestern and South Central Regions of the American Collegiate Moot Court Association (the organization overseeing national undergraduate moot court competition). The team travels throughout the region and nation competing against other undergraduate teams. Competitions are usually held at law schools and all competitions are judged by third year law students, professors, practicing attorneys and sitting judges.

The moot court team will compete next at Baylor University School of Law in February and conduct an internal competition near the end of the spring. They will also hold tryouts for next year’s team later in the semester, as well as conduct a demonstration round at a Continuing Legal Education fundraiser on the ASU campus in March. 
 

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