Moot Court final arguments March 7

Honors program builds 2Ls’ appellate advocacy skills

—By Lori Craig

Four USC Law students will present oral arguments before Court of Appeals judges during the final round of the 59th Annual Hale Moot Court Honors Competition March 7.

Second-year students Matthew Bennett, Danielle Kudla, Matthew Larson and Wende Nichols-Julien will debate a case that raises issues regarding a person’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, and whether a district court can prohibit a probationer, convicted of shipping child pornography, from using the Internet unsupervised.

The final round will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. at Norris Cinema Theatre on the USC campus, with a reception immediately following.

Judging the oral arguments will be United States Court of Appeals Judges Danny J. Boggs, chief judge of the Sixth Circuit, along with Johnnie B. Rawlinson and Milan D. Smith of the Ninth Circuit.

This year’s competition is dedicated to USC Law alum Paul Boland ’66, an appeals court judge who died in September 2007. Boland volunteered much of his time to mentoring USC Law students and was a regular Moot Court quarterfinal round judge. He served as a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge for 20 years before being appointed to the California Court of Appeal in 2001. As an appellate justice, Boland supervised the court’s Judicial Externship Program, providing opportunities for USC Law students and students from schools across the state to extern with appellate justices after their first year of law school.

Held annually, the final round of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program is the culmination of five months of competition between 40 2Ls selected to participate based on their performance in a first-year oral and written advocacy contest. The program is entirely student-run and was directed this year by an executive board chaired by 3L Michelle Keogh, last year’s competition winner.

Below is a complete list of the 2007-08 Hale Moot Court Honors Program participants.