National Moot Court Competition Team Advances to Finals

The Law School's National Moot Court Competition teams achieved outstanding results at the Region 14 tournament held at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul Nov. 16-18, winning a best brief award and sending one team on to the national finals.

Members of the Respondent team (3Ls Erin Conlin, Kelsey Fuller, and Christopher Ruska) advanced to the regional championship round, losing to a team from the University of Iowa. Conlin (#4) and Fuller (#10) were among the region's top 10 oral advocates. Because the team finished in the top two at the regional level, it will advance to the national final rounds, which will be held in New York City Jan. 29-Feb. 1.

The Petitioner team (3Ls Phillip Guebert, Kareem Tawfic, and Ryan Wang) advanced to the quarterfinals. The team wrote the best Petitioner brief, and Guebert (#8) also finished among the region's top 10 oral advocates.

The teams were coached by adjunct co-advisers Cicely Miltich (’11), Kyle Hardwick (’13), and Andrew Leiendecker (’17). Other local attorneys and Clinical Professor Brad Clary (’75) judged practice rounds and provided additional valuable feedback. In the last 36 years, out of the 72 Law School teams in the competition, 52 have qualified for the region quarterfinals, 34 have qualified for the region final four, and 21 have gone on to the national finals. This year's Respondent team will be the 12th team in the last 16 years to go to New York.