The final round of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program took place on March 1 with champion 2L Joseph Colarian winning the oral arguments. For 75 years, the Hale Moot Court Honors Competition has been held at USC Gould, in which JD students prepare for a year to compete. The competitors write appellate briefs during the fall semester and then compete in a series of oral rounds during the spring semester.
This year’s competitors delivered their arguments before a panel of presiding judges including the Hon. Richard R. Clifton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Hon. Eunice C. Lee, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the Hon. Gabriel P. Sanchez, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
“Participating in and winning the Hale Moot Court competition has been a highlight of my time at USC so far,” said Colarian. “It was an exciting challenge to think deeply about a real question of federal law currently being litigated in the Supreme Court. These kinds of opportunities represent the best part of legal education at Gould.”
Other finalists in this year’s competition were 2Ls Athena Tsianos, Benjamin Morain and Mitch Price. 3L Graham Smith served as this year’s Executive Board Chair of the program.
“The Hale Moot Court final is the culmination of a year’s hard work from many people including the Hale Moot Court board and competitors,” said Smith. “I learned a lot about what makes a leader effective and realized when you foster a spirit of engagement and excitement around an activity, it can be infectious. It was great to work with the talented, passionate and selfless students that we have in the Hale Moot Court program.”
This year’s competition covered two topics: whether the plain language of the federal law that prohibits bribery and gratuities by a public official requires proof of a “quid pro quo” bribe to sustain a conviction; and, second, whether the trial court correctly denied a defendant’s motion asking to be allowed to call 
an expert to testify about the unreliability of eyewitness identifications.
“All the students in the Hale program did an absolutely extraordinary job this year,” said Professor Rebecca Lonergan, Hale Moot Court Honors Program faculty advisor. “They were well prepared, poised, and persuasive. The appellate judges who judged both the semi-final rounds and the final round all agreed that the students who argued before them were better than 90% of the attorneys who appear in front of them during real cases.”
As a reward for all of their hard work, the Hale Moot Court program competition winners, finalists, and some participants receive monetary prizes sponsored by generous donors including BARBRI, Anthony and Susan Taylor, LexisNexis, and the E. Avery Crary award, named after the late Judge Crary. We would also like to acknowledge Phil and Charlene Bosl for their overall support of the program.
“I thank Professor Lonergan, the Hale Moot Court Executive Board, all competitors, as well as the faculty, lawyers and judges who generously gave of their time and feedback to all of us,” said Colarian.
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