Loyola University Chicago School of Law Wins National Moot Court Competition

Texas Tech University School of Law Places Second

Loyola University Chicago School of Law won the final round of the 76th Annual National Moot Court Competition held January 30. The winning team was comprised of Garrett Wolf, Dasha Ignatova and Abby Wandtke and was coached by Maureen Mullen. Texas Tech University School of Law was the runner-up, with a team comprised of Lauren Berry, Rachel Behnke and Hailey Kuykendall.

Best Brief honors went to Texas Tech University School of Law with Runner-Up Best Brief awarded to University of California Law San Francisco.

Best Oralist in the Final Round was Garrett Wolf of Loyola University Chicago School of Law.  Runner-Up Best Oralist in the Final Round was Lauren Berry of Texas Tech University School of Law.

The final round was judged by Hon. Debra Livingston, Chief Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; Hon. Ann Donnelly, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York; Hon. Rolando Acosta (Ret.) New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department; and John A. Day, President, American College of Trial Lawyers.

This year’s Record on Appeal tackled Fourth Amendment seizure and the contours of the ‘reasonableness’ standard, qualified immunity, and how factual disputes shape the interpretation of evidence.

Competitors in this year’s tournament were confronted with three issues: 1) whether the Fourth Amendment applies to the extended retention of property seized during an arrest; 2) whether the law regarding the extended retention of property was clearly established to warrant a police sergeant’s protection under qualified immunity; and 3) whether ambiguous video evidence subject to multiple reasonable interpretations could be properly reviewed by the court on appeal.

The final argument was the culmination of more than six months of preparation and arguments by 155 teams from over 110 law schools across the country. The top two teams from each of 14 regional competitions advanced to the final rounds.

The Competition is co-sponsored by the American College of Trial Lawyers and the National Moot Court Competition Committee of the New York City Bar Association, co-chaired by Heidi Goldsmith and Sabrina Smith.

About the Association
The mission of the New York City Bar Association, which was founded in 1870 and has over 20,000 members, is to equip and mobilize a diverse legal profession to practice with excellence, promote reform of the law, and uphold the rule of law and access to justice in support of a fair society and the public interest in our community, our nation, and throughout the world. www.nycbar.org