Annual program caps off a year of preparation for second-year law students
The Hale Moot Court Honors Program’s annual competition took place March 7 with 2L Samantha Abelson being named Oral Advocate Champion. For 76 years, the Hale Moot Court Honors Competition has been held at USC Gould School of Law. JD students take a full year to prepare, writing appellate briefs during the fall semester, participating in several rounds of oral competition, then leading up to the final round.
This year’s competitors delivered their arguments before a panel of presiding judges including the Hon. Joshua P. Groban, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California; the Hon. Holly A. Thomas, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Franita Tolson, USC Gould Dean and Carl Mason Franklin Chair in Law.
“Hale Moot Court ended up being the biggest surprise of law school,” said Abelson. “I didn’t expect to get so much satisfaction out of the experience, but when you spend two semesters working very hard on something and come out the other side with new friends, renewed confidence, honed skills that are applicable to your career, and perhaps some recognition, it’s hard to feel anything other than gratitude.”
Other finalists in this year’s competition were 2Ls Michael Fiedel, Niki Sahraian and Tony Yazbeck. 3L Ian Finley served as this year’s Hale Moot Court Executive Board Chair.
“As much as I love moot court, it was the Board and Prof. [Rebecca] Lonergan who made me love running the program this year,” Finley said. “A super interesting case or devotion to the law won’t help you much when it’s 10 p.m. on President’s Day and you have to clean up a round that just ended — but some amazing people do help you.”
As Finley noted, this year’s competition case was an interesting one. Students were asked to argue two complex criminal law issues. The first issue involved when an appellate court can reverse a trial court’s refusal to force the government to give use immunity to a defense witness. The second issue involved when an appellate court can reverse a jury verdict finding that a defendant made a “true threat” against the President of the United States.
“I was incredibly proud of all the students in the Hale Moot Court Honors program this year — literally, all of them were excellent,” said Lonergan, Hale Moot Court Honors Program faculty advisor. “The Executive Board did a fantastic job overseeing the program, and the guest judges for the Final Round commented that they thought the four students in the Final Round were outstanding advocates, at least as good as the lawyers that they see arguing before them in their courts.”
As a reward for their hard work, the Hale Moot Court program competition winners, finalists and some participants received 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.
“Participating in Hale Moot Court was one of the biggest challenges I have faced in law school, so winning the competition was incredibly gratifying,” Abelson said. “There were times I felt insufficient or like I couldn’t possibly advance; making it to the end proved to me that the only thing holding me back was my own mindset. As an aspiring corporate attorney, I’m looking forward to entering transactions with this confidence and trust in myself.”
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