Congratulations, Student Advocacy Teams 2016–2017!

BU Law’s student successes in advanced appellate advocacy, negotiation, and client counseling competitions.

Boston University School of Law prides itself on its robust student advocacy program. From class-wide participation in the 1L Esdaile Moot Court Competition, to advanced appellate advocacy in the Edward C. Stone, Home Albers, or intramural moot court competitions, students develop skills that will have a direct impact on their future practice. This year, student advocacy teams have been preparing to compete against some of the country’s top law students in appellate advocacy, negotiation, and client counseling competitions. Below, find results from completed competitions, and check back frequently for updates!

Jump to:

• • Albers Prize Winners and 2017–2018 Moot Court Boards/ Teams
  • Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition
  • Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition
  • John J. Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition
  • Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot Competition
  • Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition, Northeastern Region
  • ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition – Regional Competition
  • Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition – US Northeast Regionals
  • ABA Client Counseling Competition for Region 1
  • National Moot Court – Regionals
  • ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law’s Law Student Trial Advocacy Competition
  • Edward C. Stone Moot Court Competition
  • ABA Negotiation Competition Regionals
  • Queens County District Attorney’s Mock Trial Competition

Albers Prize Winners and 2017–2018 Moot Court Boards/ Teams

Congratulations to all the student advocacy and moot court teams on a successful year! Special congratulations to the 2017 Homer Albers Prize Competition winners, next year’s intermural teams, and the students selected to direct the 2017–2018 competitions.

Homer Albers Prize Winners
Best Brief: David Cochran and Daniel Kerns
Best Oralist: Matthew Kipnis
Best Team: David Cochran and Daniel Kerns
Second Team: Matthew Kipnis and Steven Procopio

2017–2018 Moot Court Boards
Albers Directors: Kimberley Brunner and Jordan Shelton
Stone Directors: Philip Chen, Robert Hillson, and Christine Park

2017–2018 Intramural Teams
Gibbons Criminal Procedure: Whitney Beatty, Nicole Theal, and Christopher Uphouse
National Appellate Advocacy: Nina Datlof, Rachel Rose, and Michael Vaglica
National Appellate Advocacy: Matthew Kipnis, Rosie Loring, and Katie Mullaley
National Moot Court: Vidhi Bamzai, Dan Kerns, and Aaron Wiener
Oxford International IP: Eric Dunbar and Mandy Wang
Siegenthaler-Sutherland: Katherine DePangher, Christopher Grimaldi, and Cristina Lloyd
Thurgood Marshall: Ashley Satterlee and Jessica Scarbrough

Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition

BU Law students Nina Datlof, Brynn Felix, and Stewart Sibert (all ’18) competed in Judge John R. Brown Admiralty Moot Court Competition in New Orleans from March 23 to March 25, 2017. They prepared a brief on two issues: whether an employer should be held vicariously liable in punitive damage for the reckless and wanton acts of its servants, and whether a party may recover economic damage without suffering physical damage that caused the economic damage.  The competition hears issues relevant to admiralty law that it thinks the US Supreme Court should hear. The Supreme Court has twice granted certiorari in cases that presented issues included in the competition.

Although the team did not advance to the quarterfinals, they argued both sides of the competition extremely well and confidently. Both their brief and their argument displayed their excellent and extensive work on the brief and on their preparation for the arguments.

Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition

BU Law’s team advances to the semifinal rounds.

On March 24 and 25, Daniel Johnston, Lewis Osterman, and Will Simpson (all ’17) competed at the Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup National First Amendment Moot Court Competition in Washington, DC. The Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup is a newer competition, created through the merger of the Sutherland Cup, which was the oldest constitutional law competition in the country, and the First Amendment Center’s First Amendment Competition. The Seigenthaler-Sutherland Cup was named after journalist and ardent champion of the First Amendment John Seigenthaler and hosted by the Newseum Institute and the Catholic University Columbus School of Law.

This year, the competition welcomed 27 teams from law schools around the country to consider public schools’ ability to regulate students’ off-campus speech. After two strong performances in the preliminary rounds on the first day of the competition, the BU Law team advanced to the quarterfinals. Jan Neuharth, the chair and CEO of the Newseum Institute’s Freedom Forum, presided with two other attorneys over the quarterfinal round. Despite some tough questions from the panel, the BU Law team won the round and advanced.

In the semifinals, they argued before David Hudson, professor at Vanderbilt Law School and First Amendment Ombudsman for the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center, the Hon. Joseph F. Leeson, of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and the Hon. Marian F. Harrison, chief bankruptcy judge for the Middle District of Tennessee. The team unfortunately lost to the team from Notre Dame School of Law, which eventually won the competition.

Associate Director of the Legal Writing Program Jen Taylor McCloskey, who attended the competition with the team, was extremely impressed. “This is a new competition for us, and I was very proud of how well the team did,” she said. “All three members of the team addressed the judges’ tough hypotheticals without becoming rattled, which is what allowed us to advance all the way to the semifinals.”

John J. Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition

Brandon Li and Veronika Finkelberg (both ’17) represented BU Law at the 2017 John J. Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition on March 24–25. The Gibbons competition is sponsored each year by Seton Hall Law School and asks students to consider current criminal procedure issues (typically an issue pending before the Supreme Court). This year, the problem asked students to argue over whether disclosure, pursuant to the Stored Communications Act, of a third-party phone company’s business records containing historical cell tower location information violates a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights, and whether F.R.C.P. 606(b) may constitutionally bar evidence of racial bias offered to prove a Sixth Amendment violation.

Teams from forty-four different law schools competed in the preliminary rounds this year. The team from BU Law faced teams from LSU Law Center and University of Connecticut School of Law in the preliminary rounds. Although BU Law was not one of the sixteen teams to advance to the octofinals this year, but the competitors presented strong arguments and enjoyed their time at the competition.

“Veronika and I were honored to represent BU Law at the Gibbons Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition,” Li said. “The competition was a rewarding adventure that provided us the opportunity to face off with other skillful teams from across the country. Both Veronika and I will be pursuing careers in criminal law after graduation, so the Gibbons Moot Court Competition was an excellent chance for us practice applying our knowledge of criminal procedure while using the skills necessary for effective appellate advocacy.”

Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot Competition

BU Law was one of two teams from the United States invited to participate.

On March 16–18, Stephen Colter and Sarah Washington (both ’17) competed in the 15th Annual Oxford International Intellectual Property Law Moot Competition hosted by the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre at the University of Oxford.

Students in the competition must brief both sides of a problem, and the organizers use those briefs to determine which teams to invite to participate. This year, the BU Law team had to brief two questions. First, the team argued whether a patent for a specific bottle, which causes a person drinking an alcoholic beverage from it to become intoxicated faster, should be invalidated as being contrary to morality and public policy. Further, the team had to address whether, assuming the patent was valid, an allegedly infringing bottle actually fell within that patent’s claims. Finally, the team considered whether the elements of an extended passing off claim had been made out. Only 24 of 59 teams that applied were accepted to compete, and BU Law was one of only two law schools from the United States selected.

While Colter and Washington lost their first arguments against the teams from the University of Windsor, Canada and University of Oxford (which advanced to the semifinal round), they came away with wins against teams from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, India and Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Both team members received strong praise from the judges.

“The snowstorm delayed our arrival at Oxford, but despite arriving the morning of the competition, the students did an amazing job, improving in each round,” says Robert Volk, director of BU Law’s legal writing and appellate advocacy program. “A record number of schools submitted briefs this year. Just being invited to this prestigious, international competition is a great achievement.”

Giles Rich Sutherland Moot Court Competition

Deborah (Debbie) Hinck and Elizabeth (Annie) Hudson (both ’17), coached by Associate Professor Paul Gugliuzza, competed at the Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court Competition, Northeastern Region, on Friday, March 17 at Suffolk Law School.

Sponsored by the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the patent-focused competition asks students to brief both sides of two legal issues, and then argue those issues in a regional meet that determines which teams will advance to the National Rounds. This year’s problem involved an appeal in a patent infringement and breach of contract case. Students argued whether the defendant in the patent infringement action could successfully assert a prior user defense, and whether the district court in the case properly exercised supplemental jurisdiction over the defendant’s breach of contract counterclaims, and if it did, whether the plaintiff did breach the contract.

This competition is unusual in that each team only gets to argue once in the preliminary round, after which only four teams advance to a semifinal round. The BU Law team faced Suffolk Law in its preliminary round. Although the team did receive a higher score than the team from Suffolk in the preliminary round, the team received the fifth-highest score overall in that round, and so did not advance to the semifinal round.

“We thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to practice our advocacy skills in our subject area of choice,” says Hinck, “and we appreciate all of the support we received from our coaches and the BU moot court program!”

This was the first time in many years that BU Law has competed in the Giles Sutherland Rich competition. We congratulate Debbie and Annie on their efforts, and thank Professor Gugliuzza for his excellent guidance!

ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition –­ Regional Competition

BU Law sent two teams to the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition – Regional Competition, which took place at the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse in Boston on March 2–4, 2017. Joel Antwi and Diana Stroud made up one team, while Tavish Brown, Thomas Craig, and Betsy Feldman (all ’17) were on the other. This year’s problem asked students to argue over what level of deference courts should afford to the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights about the duties of educational institutions to investigate allegations of student-on-student off-campus assault, and whether Title IX allows a claim for relief against a university that refuses to conduct an investigation into such an assault.

Antwi and Stroud faced off against teams from Wayne State University Law School and the Shepard Broad College of Law at Nova Southeastern University in the first rounds, losing both in very close arguments. In their third round, they were matched against a team from University of Georgia School of Law, which they roundly defeated. Although they ended up with a strong total score for the preliminary rounds, they ultimately did not advance. Brown, Craig, and Feldman prevailed over the team from Ave Maria School of Law in the first round, but lost their second argument to the team from Mercer University School of Law. For their third argument, the team had a rematch against the team from Ave Maria. They defeated that team a second time and clinched the fifteen-seed spot in the semifinal round.

In the semifinal round, Brown, Craig, and Feldman faced the second-seeded team from Baylor Law School and won the round. The team advanced to the finals, where they faced a team from Chicago-Kent College of Law. After a tough argument with an active bench, the Chicago-Kent team won the round.

BU Law is proud of the strong performance from both teams. The NAAC is one of the toughest competitions BU Law participates in, as the questions are usually extremely difficult. Both teams were subjected to aggressive questioning from their benches, but our students were able to give clear, direct answers to the judges’ questions. Congratulations to both teams on their hard work!

Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition – US Northeast Regionals

February 9–12

A team of BU Law students recently competed in the 58th Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition Northeast regionals. Stephanie Cohen (’18), Joshua Duncan (’17), Yuhang Li (’17), and Nicolas Mertz (’18) traveled to New York City with Visiting Assistant Professor Aaron Knapp, who coached the team from September through the qualifying rounds. BU Law Lecturer Babak Boghraty and Professors Daniela Caruso, Rebecca Ingber, Pnina Lahav, and Robert Sloane also contributed invaluable assistance during the team’s intensive preparations leading up to the competition.

The world’s largest moot court competition, Jessup draws participants from over 550 law schools in more than 87 countries. The competition is a simulation of a fictional dispute between countries before the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. To compete, teams prepare oral and written briefs that argue both the applicant and respondent positions of the case. This year’s fact pattern raised difficult international legal issues concerning trans-boundary resources, cultural property, and political refugees.

At the offices of Shearman & Sterling, the BU Law Jessup team competed against the University of Maine School of Law, Pace University School of Law, Rutgers Law School, and Columbia Law School. It scored wins against Maine and Rutgers, and essentially tied Pace. Columbia, whose Jessup team went on to the finals this year, presented more formidable competition. Still, the BU Law team’s raw score in the preliminary rounds exceeded those of teams that advanced into the semifinals. The BU team’s win-loss distribution (2-2), however, just barely prevented it from advancing. In recognition of their impressive efforts, the team received two honors at the awards ceremony—a competition trophy for their Memorials (i.e. briefs), and an honorable mention for Stephanie Cohen as an individual oralist.

“The team performed exceptionally well,” Professor Knapp says. “The rounds against Rutgers and Pace were virtually flawless. In their comments after oral argument in all the rounds, the judges offered great praise to all the BU Law team members. Three ranked the BU team among the best they’d ever seen in the Jessup competition. Certainly, this was a tremendous learning experience—all team members improved remarkably during the preparatory period in their legal writing and oral advocacy skills. The experience will serve them very well as they move forward with their legal careers after law school.”

ABA Client Counseling Competition for Region 1

Two teams from BU Law—Liana Newton and Jonathan Allen (both ’19), and Julia Merton and Ryan Class (both ’18)—competed on February 10 and 11 in the American Bar Association Client Counseling Competition for Region 1, hosted by BU Law. After several rounds of judging, Merton and Class advanced to the finals, and ultimately won the competition!

The Client Counseling Competition asks students to interview three clients with three different legal issues. Preliminary round judges sit in as the teams counsel the same client, then rank each team. The best-ranked teams proceed to a semifinal round, where they and an opposing team separately interview a new client. Finally, the top teams from the semifinal round all interview one more client for the final round. Judges select the team they think did the best job getting information from and counseling that client. The competition is challenging, as students have almost no information about each client going in to the interviews.

Newton and Allen received excellent feedback from the judges in the preliminary round, but ultimately did not advance to the semifinal round. Merton and Class received the best scores among the teams in the preliminary round, and advanced to the semifinal round as the top-seeded team. In that round, they faced off against the team against Boston College School of Law to counsel a client who was angry with her neighbor’s son for constantly flying a drone over the client’s property. After winning their round and advancing to the finals, the team had to counsel a grieving parent seeking to have photos of their child’s gruesome death removed from a website. Ryan and Julia prevailed over the teams from New England School of Law and Stetson University College of Law, and won the regional competition.

Both of BU Law’s teams put in a great deal of hard work preparing for this competition. As Jen Taylor McCloskey, associate director of the Legal Writing Program, who hosted this year’s regional competition, noted, “Both teams received excellent feedback from the judges. Several judges even took the time to email after the competition to say what a strong performance both teams gave.”

Merton and Class will travel to the National Finals of the Client Counseling Competition at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, in Norman, Oklahoma on March 17 and 18. They will be accompanied by the BU Law’s negotiation and client counseling directors, Andrew Griffin (’17), Wes Howe (’17), Catherine Mullaley (’18), and Nicole Rushovich (’18). The directors put in a great deal of work running the School’s internal competitions and choosing the students to compete on our intramural team.

We congratulate both teams as well as the directors on their hard work!

National Moot Court – Regionals

Congratulations to Rama Attreya, James Orth, and Lauren Rubin, this year’s National Moot Court team members and semi-finalists in the regional competition! BU Law hosted the competition from November 19–20. The team defeated teams from Roger Williams University School of Law and Western New England University School of Law in the preliminary rounds. They moved on to the semi-final round as an undefeated second seed, where they faced the team from BC Law. Both teams had nearly identical brief scores, so the round came down entirely to the oral argument scores. The BU Law team gave an excellent argument, but ultimately lost the round by just a point. Please join us in congratulating them on an excellent effort!

ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law’s 13th Annual Law Student Trial Advocacy Competition

Two teams from BU Law competed in the ABA Section of Labor and Employment Law’s 13th Annual Law Student Trial Advocacy Competition on November 19 and 20. The case the teams argued concerned an allegation that the ABA Transit Authority discriminated against the plaintiff and failed to accommodate his disability in violation of the American’s with Disabilities Act. Each attorney was responsible for an opening or a closing, one direct examination, and one cross examination.

Sixteen schools participated in the competition. While neither of the BU Law teams moved on to the semi-finals, both teams received a great deal of positive feedback from the judges. Congratulations to team members Zach Missan (’19), Greg Ginther (’19), Brandon Xavier Frank (’19), Evan Johnson (’17), Jason Ecker (’19), Rachel Rose (’18), Sam Toomey (’19), and Thomas Perkins (’19), as well as team coaches Evan Bailey (’18) and Brandon Winer (’18) for their hard work!

Edward C. Stone Moot Court Competition

Congratulations to this year’s participants in the Edward C. Stone Moot Court Competition! Nearly one-third of the 2L class competed in the competition this year, and all of the participants worked extremely hard during what is an especially busy time of year. In particular, we’d like to recognize the winners of the Best Brief and Best Oralist awards for each problem, as well as the Albers invitees listed below.

Best Brief

• Christine Park and Denny Xu for Problem 1: Koopa Collectors v. Donny Kong (Civil Procedure/Consumer Protection)
• Ashley Satterlee and David Cochran for Problem 2: In re Estate of Jordan (Wills and Estates)
• Vidhi Bamzai and Lucas Fortier for Problem 3: United States v. Duarte (Fourth Amendment/Statutory Interpretation)

Best Oralist

• Jasmine Etesse for Problem 1: Koopa Collectors v. Donny Kong (Civil Procedure/Consumer Protection)
• Cristina Lloyd for Problem 2: In re Estate of Jordan (Wills and Estates)
• Whitney Beatty for Problem 3: United States v. Duarte (Fourth Amendment/Statutory Interpretation)

Albers Invitees

Congratulations to the thirty-two students who have been invited to participate in the 2017 Homer Albers Prize competition this spring!

American Bar Association Negotiation Competition Regionals

November 4–6, 2016

Two teams from BU Law joined the American Bar Association Negotiation Competition Regionals at the University of Connecticut School of Law. Michael Monti and Nick LaPalme made up one team, and Kelly Moran and Ryan McCarthy (all ’19) formed the other. Wes Howe, Andrew Griffin (both ’17), Katie Mullaley, and Nicole Rushovich (both ’18), directors of the Negotiation and Client Counseling Program, attended to assist the teams.

The competition focused on negotiating skills, specifically suited towards the 2016 theme of business law. The teams negotiated a deal between a successful cosmetics company and an organic grocery chain, as well as an employment contract between a cosmetics company and a model. “Both teams represented BU Law well,” said Griffin, a 3L director. “We were really impressed by how well this group of 1Ls did only a few weeks into law school!”

Queens County District Attorney’s Mock Trial Competition

October 29, 2016

Katherine Depangher (’18), Brian Hughes (’18), Christian Saucedo (’18), and Abeer Zayyad (’17) participated in the Queens County District Attorney’s Mock Trial Competition, held at the Queens County Courthouse.

The team was given a case packet with police reports, a transcript of an interrogation, and various other documents that could be used as evidence. At the competition they were provided with the murder weapon. The defendant— accused of shooting and killing his long-time girlfriend and violating a restraining order—faced two charges: murder in the second degree and criminal contempt in the first degree.

The team competed against New York Law School in the first round, and the University of Connecticut School of Law in the second. Only six of the 16 teams moved on to the semi-finals and, unfortunately, BU Law’s team was not one of them. In both rounds they received positive feedback from the judges as well as the assistant district attorneys and defense attorneys who scored the competition. In addition, the coaches of both competitor teams commended the BU Law team members not only on their abilities but on their friendliness and general good spirits.

“The competition was especially difficult because the team had to learn New York evidence law and New York case law as it pertained to motions in limine,” said Gina Del Rio Gazzo (’17), a student coach for the mock trial teams. “Each member of the team did extraordinarily well and they made me coach incredibly proud.”