On November 10-11, 2012, the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law had the privilege of hosting a regional round for the 63rd annual New York City Bar Association National Moot Court Competition.   The National Moot Court Competition is the oldest appellate law moot court tournament in the country, and the regional rounds showcase the oral and written appellate advocacy skills of law students from across the Midwest region.  There were a total of sixteen teams competing this year from the University of Cincinnati, University of Dayton, Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, Thomas M. Cooley, Capital University, Cleveland Marshall, University of Toledo, and the University of Detroit Mercy.  UDM Law was honored to have been chosen to host the tournament this year and enjoyed a successful competition.

We are proud to announce that our team of Laura Gibson, Christopher Kwiecien, and Dan Bonucci advanced to the Semi-Final Rounds but were narrowly defeated by Ohio State.  The Champion of the entire Regional Round was Ohio State University and the Runner-Up was Case Western.

Most importantly, both of our UDM teams performed very well in brief writing, with the Gibson/Kwiecien/Bonucci team receiving a Runner-Up Best Brief award (only one point below the Best Brief), and the other UDM team of Erin Stafford, Javon Hindo, and Brian Smith finishing 6^th out of 16 teams.  Also, Chris Kwiecien received a Top Ten Oralist award for his performance in the Preliminary Rounds.  Congratulations to both teams and to Professors Richard Broughton, Julia Belian, and Karen Henning for coaching these students to their successful finishes. 

Professor Michelle Streicher as tournament director for UDM Law did a spectacular job with the Moot Court Board of Advocates Competition Committee of Joshua Latzman, Sara Lowry, Deanna Kossaras, Anna Valk, and Ellisse Rutkofske Thompson. And many thanks to Dean Lloyd Semple and Assistant Deans Denise Hickey and Amy Smith for their support along with the housekeeping, building, IT, and catering crews.  This was certainly a team effort, and that showed in the wonderful outcome.

Please take a moment to check out the Photo Gallery of the weekend.