by Amanda Stutevoss
Staff Writer
At the National Black Law Student Association’s Frederick Douglas National Moot Court Western Regional Competition at the University of California, Hastings, in San Francisco, ULV took home the trophy for Best Team and Best Oralist. The competition was held on Feb. 14.
The ULV team consisted of law students Tangela Terry and Stephen King. The two combined to create a powerhouse, overtaking large UC law schools. This win was no surprise for the ULV Law program, which has conquered large programs, such as UC Berkeley Boalt Hall in the past.
A moot court competition is somewhat different than a standard mock court competition. In a moot court competition, teams receive a record containing factual history and what occurred at the trial level, (whether the defendant was convicted or not). Teams then must write a 35- page brief, which is scored by judges. If the team scores high enough they are chosen to advance into the semi-final round where each team must then argue both sides of the case for 30 minutes, one side for the defendant and one side for the government.
The real difference between a mock competition and a moot is that the teams are not arguing in front of a randomly selected jury, they are arguing before justices in the United States Supreme Court.
Moot court professor Dean McVay and coaches Carolyn Ballard and Alan Blackman were also credited for the win.
“Our coaches played a key role in our success,” said Terry in an email.
Terry, who is in her last year of law school, said that she and King knew the competition would be fierce.
“We knew that we would be competing against schools that have strong moot court programs, but we were not intimidated because we worked very hard to prepare for the competition and then we put it in God’s hands,” said Terry.
Schools like Hastings Law School, University of Seattle Law School, and UC Hastings, the “team to beat” attended the competition. ULV placed first in the Western Regional competition. The three top teams in each region will advance into the national competition which will be held in Atlanta, Ga., on March 14-18.
