On January 24, members of the Moot Court Board at Elon Law built on a series of achievements in recent months, with Beth Klein and Chris McLain finishing in the top eight teams at the 35th annual J. Braxton Craven, Jr. Memorial Competition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The competition drew 24 teams from law schools across the country.
The achievement by Klein and McLain follows semi-finalist and Best Brief awards for Elon Law teams at the February 17-18 Leroy R. Hassell, Sr. National Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition at Regent University School of Law and awards at October 2011 at Mercer University School of Law’s Legal Ethics and Professionalism Moot Court Competition, all detailed below.
Klein’s and McLain’s achievement at Craven marked the second straight year that Elon reached the quarterfinals at the competition, continuing a string of strong performances at Craven, including a second-place finish in spring 2009.
Two teams from Elon were semi-finalists at the Leroy R. Hassell, Sr. National Constitutional Law Moot Court Competition at Regent University School of Law on February 17-18. This marked the first time that Elon Law has had two teams among the top four teams in the same competition. The Elon teams were comprised of third-year students Pamela Lawrence, Jennifer Matthews and Christopher White, and second-year student, Will Drath.
Lawrence and White also took Best Brief honors in the competition. Drath and Lawrence finished as the Fourth and Fifth Best Oral Advocates, respectively. The Elon teams competed in the semi-finals against teams from William & Mary Law School and Liberty University School of Law, who finished second and first respectively.
The success at Regent followed a strong showing in October 2011 at Mercer University School of Law’s Legal Ethics and Professionalism Moot Court Competition, where the Elon team reached the Elite Eight. Elon was represented at Mercer by third-year law students Andrea Davis, Josh Neighbors and Mark York. The Elon team also wrote the Third Best Brief in the Mercer competition.
In the coming weeks, Elon Law’s Moot Court Program will field teams at Capital University Law School and the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition in Washington, D.C. It will also host the second annual Billings, Exum & Frye National Moot Court Competition from March 29-31, 2012, with 34 teams from 21 law schools across the nation competing for the top prize, the Chief Justices’ Cup.
The Regent teams were coached by Jim Exum, Distinguished Jurist in Residence, Bonnie McAlister, Executive Coach in Residence, and Associate Dean Alan Woodlief, Director of Moot Court Programs. The Mercer team was also coached by Dean Woodlief, Chief Justice Exum, Professor McAlister, and Frank Bullock, United States District Judge (Ret.), now practicing with Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP.
For more about the accomplishments of Elon Law’s students in other competitions, please visit http://www.elon.edu/e-web/law/mootcourt/awardsandhonors.xhtml.