NEW YORK, March 14, 2004—The Moot Court Association at New York Law School announced the winners of its 28th annual Robert F. Wagner Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition. Pepperdine University was the overall winner of the competition arguing in the final round against Southern Methodist University.    

The final round was judged by a distinguished bench led by the honorable John M. Walker, Jr., chief judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

“All the participants were fantastic,” Judge Walker said. “They were extremely well prepared, extremely responsive, and all made excellent arguments. We had to pick a winning team and we did, but all of them can take satisfaction in the work that they’ve done. It was really an outstanding competition.”

The Pepperdine University team consisted of Land Murphy and Wendy Coats, who also won the award for Best Final Round Oral Advocate. The SMU team consisted of Elizabeth Bedell and Roshanak Khosravi. Writing awards were presented to Stetson University for the Best Brief for the Petitioner and to Brooklyn Law School for the Best Brief for the Respondent. The award for Best Preliminary Round Oral Advocate went to Margaret McGrath of John Marshall. Stetson University and Brooklyn law School were semifinalists in the competition.  

One hundred law students from thirty-eight law schools from every region of the country competed in the written and oral phases of the Competition, arguing a moot case arising under the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993.  In the fictitious case, authored by New York Law School students Ryan Milun and Lauren Rudick, the movie character Matilda Jeffries, from the motion picture Zoolander, files an employment discrimination suit against her former employer, Ballstein, Inc., alleging she was improperly fired while on her approved FMLA leave.  

The oral rounds began on March 11 and culminated in a grand final round on Sunday, March 14, with the two best teams arguing before a bench that also included the honorable Maria Echaveste, White House deputy chief of staff to President Clinton, former wage and hour administrator, U.S Department of Labor; the honorable Wilma Liebman, member, National Labor Relations Board; the honorable Richard A. Matasar, dean and president, New York Law School; and the honorable Howard Radzely, solicitor of labor, U.S. Department of Labor.

Founded at New York Law School, the Wagner Moot Court Competition is run entirely by students who author the fact pattern and the bench brief; score the written part of the competition; and organize the extensive series of oral rounds judged by distinguished practitioners and members of the bench. The Competition is named in honor of the Law School’s distinguished alumnus, United States Senator Robert F. Wagner, who graduated from New York Law School in 1900.

ABOUT NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL

Located near the centers of law, government, and finance in New York City, New York Law School is one of the oldest independent law schools in the United States. Its faculty of noted and prolific scholars has built the school’s curricular strength in the areas of tax law, labor and employment law, civil and human rights law, media and information law, urban legal studies, international and comparative law, and interdisciplinary fields such as legal history and legal ethics. The Law School enrolls 1,400 students and has more than 11,000 graduates.

Contact: Jim Hellegaard, Office of Public Affairs, 212.431.2191, jhellegaard@nyls.edu 

# # #