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Contact: Related Links: University of California—Hastings College of Law Wins NEW YORK, March 13, 2005—The Moot Court Association at New York Law School announced the winners of its 29th annual Robert F. Wagner National Labor and Employment Law Moot Court Competition. The University of California—Hastings College of Law was the overall winner of the competition, arguing in the final round against Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Northern Kentucky University. Today’s final round was judged by a distinguished bench led by the Honorable Theodore A. McKee of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. “I have participated in a number of moot court competitions, but this was the most difficult competition I have ever judged; the panel was split 3–2,” Judge McKee said. “I found all of the finalists to be more prepared and more poised than real lawyers with years of experience often are. All of them were equally well versed in both the facts and the law. ” The University of California—Hastings College of Law team consisted of Ashley Ensign and Blane Mall. The Salmon P. Chase College of Law team consisted of Dori Thompson and Jennifer Cloyd. Cloyd was named Best Final Round Oral Advocate. Writing awards were presented to the University of California—Hastings College of Law for the Best Brief for the Petitioner and to Michigan State University College of Law for the Best Brief for the Respondent. The award for Best Preliminary Round Oral Advocate went to Jeffrey Belton of Pepperdine University School of Law. The Pepperdine team was a semifinalist in the competition, as was Southern Methodist University—Dedman School of Law. Ninety law students from 37 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 Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In the fictitious case, a former employer of Soprano Manufacturing, Inc. (SMI), Adriana La Cerva, files an employment discrimination suit against her former employer, alleging that SMI regarded her as disabled and that SMI refused her a reasonable accommodation. She also alleges that she was subjected to sexual harassment. The oral rounds began on March 10 and culminated in a grand final round on Sunday, March 13, with the two best teams arguing before a bench that also included the Honorable Julio M. Fuentes, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; the Honorable Frederic Block, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York; the Honorable Stuart J. Ishimaru, United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; and the Honorable Richard A. Matasar, Dean and President, New York Law School. 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. This year's Competition was organized by members of the New York Law School Moot Court Association led by:
Professor Arthur Leonard serves as Wagner faculty advisor, and the Honorable Gerald Lebovits, Adjunct Professor of Law, is the faculty advisor to the Moot Court Association. The Wagner Competition is named in honor of the Law School's distinguished alumnus, United States Senator Robert F. Wagner Sr., who graduated from New York Law School in 1900. During his four consecutive terms in the Senate (1926-1949), Wagner authored sweeping legislation that dramatically changed the American social and economic landscape. His two greatest legislative achievements occurred in 1935 with the passage of the Social Security Act to provide old-age pensions to Americans, and the National Labor Relations Act to guarantee labor's right to organize and bargain collectively. ABOUT NEW YORK LAW SCHOOL Founded in 1891, New York Law School is the second-oldest independent law school in the United States. Drawing on its location near the centers of law, government, and finance in New York City, 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. New York Law School has more than 11,000 graduates and enrolls some 1,500 students in its full- and part-time J.D. program. It is one of only two law schools in the metropolitan area to offer the Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation. # # # |
