Monday March 03, 2008

Recently, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law students have been traveling around the country for two different reasons. Some students have been on different teams competing in national moot court competitions; others have been on the road with our national tour to assist veterans in securing federal benefits. In each case, our students have excelled in different ways.

Following (Mar 3rd entry and Mar 10th entry) are separate reflections on the pride that our students’ performance has brought to me as Dean in these two very different spheres.

It seems like every weekend now I am spending a lot of time on the phone hearing about the successes of our UDM School of Law Moot Court teams as they compete in national competitions around the country.

As each of our teams appears at a national tournament, I follow their progress closely, getting updates from Prof. Michelle Streicher (who runs our moot court program) as our team progresses from each round. These phone conversations with Prof. Streicher have been lots of fun, because the news is almost invariably positive. And then I have a great time calling our student participants to congratulate them on their success. (It is also starting to cost me a pretty penny as I send champagne to our victorious teams!)

It is difficult to describe how proud I am of how well our students have performed this year. Just this past weekend, our students won the National Championship in the McGee Civil Rights Moot Court Competition held at the University of Minnesota. But, unlike in prior weekends, I was not at all nervous during the final round – because I already knew that we had won. How did I know that? Because out of over 40 teams from law schools across the nation, the two final teams were both from UDM! Clearly, we dominated that competition.

But that’s been the story more and more frequently here. So far this year we’ve competed in six different national competitions, in most cases against anywhere from 20 to 70 or so other teams. And here’s the incredible fact: in five of those six competitions, our team has made it into the Final Four! (In the sixth competition, we beat out 40 other teams to make it to the top third, but not the finals.) In those six competitions, our teams have brought home one gold medal, two silver medals, two Best Oralist awards, and a silver for runner-up Best Brief.

While I certainly enjoy our students’ success, I am also pleased with the learning and the experience that they gain. Our student competitors prepare with great dedication for these competitions, and they learn a great deal in doing so. They have an opportunity to practice their arguments in practice rounds judged by experts in their area in major firms around the nation. They learn about oral advocacy, persuasion, and public speaking. And then they go out and gain added experience and confidence by seeing how great they really are!

So, I hope you’ll join me in congratulating our student competitors who have done so well so far this year:

McGee Civil Rights Moot Court Competition:

Team 1: Jennifer Hartlep, Kathy Koziol & Clinton Hubbell
Faculty Coach – Deborah Paruch

Team 2: Michelle Busuito, Christopher Lenhardt & Khalil Rahal
Faculty Coach – Jeffrey Silver

Harvard Animal Rights Moot Court Competition: Jennifer Dukarski & Anne MacCauley, Faculty Coach – Pamela Wilkens

NYU Immigration Law Moot Court Competition: Tiffani Frederick, Emily Murphy, Dan Whittal & Joel Wisniewski
Faculty Coach – David Koelsch

Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (Regionals): Roxanna Gale, Robert Walker, Kelsey Siemen, Ryan Sheahan & Jamie Bordman
Faculty Coach – Cara Cunningham

NYC Appellate Moot Court Competition: Sean Corley & Janet Conigliaro
Faculty Coach – Michelle Streicher

Pace Environmental Law Moot Court Competition: Dylan Duvall & Courtner Satko Faculty Coach – Lynn Dodge