Press Release
Moot Court Team Wins ABA Regional Championship.
On Saturday, March 14, 2009, a team of law students representing Faulkner University's Thomas Goode Jones School of Law won the St. Louis Regional in the American Bar Association’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition in St. Louis, Missouri. Second-year law students Clayton Tartt (Livingston, Alabama) and Ashley Penhale (Alabaster, Alabama), along with third-year law student Katie Langer (Montgomery, Alabama), defeated Tulane University, Ave Maria, Stetson and Washington University Law School to advance to the National finals in Chicago, Illinois, April 2-4. This makes the second time in three years that the law school has won the regional championship in this prestigious moot court competition.
The ABA’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition is the largest annual moot court competition hosted by the American Bar Association’s Law Student Division, involving 192 teams from 112 U.S. law schools. The competition begins each year with six regional competitions. Four regional winners then advance to the national tournament, resulting in a final field of twenty-four teams.
This year’s national competition problem involved a war powers dispute between Congress and the President. The issue involved whether the process by which Congress attempted to end an armed conflict in the fictional country of West Baltizstan infringed on the President’s power as Commander-in-Chief. The team members were required to write a brief on one side of the issue and to argue before a panel of judges.
Faulkner was one of two schools that had two teams in the regional finals. Second-year students Dee Worshek, Tray Richardson and Blaire Wood defeated Notre Dame, Southern Illinois and Loyola Chicago before losing in the regional finals. This team was coached by Professor Charles Campbell.
Besides the team successes there were also individual honors. With over 100 students competing in the St. Louis regional, Clayton Tartt was named the 7th best advocate and Katie Langer was named the 8th best.
“Our team mantra is that we will win because we will work harder,” said Professor John Garman, who teaches constitutional law at the law school and coached the winning team. “Our students have been working hard since November to prepare for this competition, and it showed.”
“This victory is just a part of another very successful year for our advocacy program,” according to Professor Joe Lester, Advocacy Director at the law school. “In addition to this outstanding result, our students will compete for a second straight national championship in the Thurgood Marshall National Mock Trial Competition in Los Angeles, and we will send a mediation team to the national finals of the ABA’s Mediation Competition in New York. Making the national finals in three different advocacy skills demonstrates the depth of our advocacy program.”
“We are very proud of our students and faculty coaches and congratulate them on their success,” said Charles Nelson, Dean of Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law.
For more information regarding Faulkner’s advocacy programs please contact Professor Joe Lester, Advocacy Director and Professor of Law, at 334-386-7542.