Never mind basketball, this spring USC Gould is celebrating a number of students who have excelled in moot court competitions. Adding to the several USC Gould national teams who have already fared well is the team of Devin Murtaugh ’13 and Brendan Charney ’13, who won the regional ABA Law Student Division National Appellate Advocacy Competition (NAAC) in San Francisco. They compete in the national finals in Chicago April 4-6, 2013.
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| Brendan Charney ’13 and Devin Murtaugh ’13, finalists in the ABA NAAC. |
The NAAC challenges moot court teams from across the country to bring their A-game in written and oral advocacy and the USC Gould team was prepared to do just that. Although initially nervous, Devin and Brendan described the regional competition as an opportunity to set nerves aside and delve into the case.
“It was a mix of feeling absolute terror and looking forward to getting past that and into the issues,” Charney said. “It was terrifically exciting to argue a case in front of very capable judges.”
Although Devin and Brendan agreed that the competition was equally prepared to win, they cited their team’s competitive advantage.
“A lot of schools teach students how to write speeches, but USC teaches us how to have a persuasive conversation,” Charney said. “The other teams were highly competitive; they were cordial but they also had their game faces on.”
Both Devin and Brendan are on the executive board of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program at USC Gould and said their experiences in the program helped them hone their skills.
“We attack each other in practice so that we have a strong sense of our arguments and can present them with a high level of confidence,” Murtaugh said.
Besides working within the Hale program, they agreed that also being on the national team has been a rewarding learning experience. Working with other 3Ls provided them the opportunity to work on their oral advocacy skills and learn about issues while benefiting from collaboration.
They also attributed their success in the regional competition to the assistance of Professors Rebecca Lonergan and Clare Pastore. Lonergan is the faculty advisor to the Hale Moot Court Honors Program and the National Moot Court Team.
“When they came to help us practice, they were extraordinary,” Murtaugh said. “They were well prepared for practice and helped us do quite well.”
With the national finals ahead, Devin and Brendan are re-working their strategies to optimize their performance in Chicago.
“The first thing we’re going to do is go back to our road map and re-write it again and again,” Murtaugh said. “We learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of our arguments in the regionals and now it is time to apply it.”
Brendan mentioned another tactic for success.
“We look forward to more moots with team members to keep us on our toes,” he said.
With regard to the competition, they look forward to seeing how other law schools prepare their students.
“Oral advocacy is an art that can be expressed many ways,” Charney said.
While the beauty of artistic expression in argumentation may lie in the eyes of the judges, Devin and Brendan say they look forward to that same intensity and high level of preparation from other teams that they experienced in the regional competition.
“We will be competing against teams we haven’t seen before but we expect them to prepare well and present their best arguments,” Murtaugh said.
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